Olympic gold medallist Daniel Wiffen has given £25,000 from an Olympic grant to his former school in Armagh to help fund a gym.
Wiffen struck gold in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1,500m swim at the Paris games in 2024.
As a result, his portion of a £100,000 Olympic Medallist Fund, distributed by SportNI from Department of Communities, was handed over to St Patrick’s Grammar School.
Six NI athletes received a grant to be spent on projects within Northern Ireland.
The awards were £20,000 for a gold medal, £10,000 for a silver medal and £5,000 for a bronze medal. Having won both gold and bronze medals in Paris, Daniel received the highest award for donation at £25,000.
Daniel has always maintained excellent links with his old grammar school in Armagh and they were very supportive throughout his swimming journey.
When Daniel was made aware of this legacy funding, and began to look for a project, he didn’t think twice about it and immediately contacted his old principal, Mr Dominic Clarke.
They quickly identified a new much-needed school gym to help develop local sporting talent in the Armagh community.
The school has an excellent reputation for producing high quality sportsmen such as members of the recent winners of the GAA Armagh team in All Ireland football, the Wiffen Twins (swimmers), hurlers, basketball and many others.
It was a project which the school had initiated but were struggling to find suitable funding in the current economic climate.
The £25,000 donation has allowed the school to purchase the required gym equipment.
Daniel Wiffen, along with his twin brother Nathan and elder brother Ben, all past pupils, were so proud to visit the finished gym at the school in April.
This has now provided an ongoing legacy for current students and future sports stars from the school.
