Irish Swimmer Who Won Gold at Paris Olympics Appeared in ‘Game of Thrones’

Before Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen took home two medals — including a gold for the men’s 800m freestyle — during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games this past week, he played a small part in a very different game. 

The 23-year-old swimmer revealed that he and his twin brother, Nathan, were extras on Game of Thrones — and that the two appeared in the pivotal “Red Wedding” scene during season three of the HBO series. 

“I didn’t really know about Game of Thrones when I was younger,” Wiffen told Olympics.com in 2022. “My parents wouldn’t really let me watch it, but I guess my dad watched it all the time, and then my sister got a really good role in Game of Thrones — she was one of the Frey daughters [Neyela Frey, granddaughter of Lord Walder Frey].

He added, “So she came in and did her bit and then we came in for the Red Wedding, in the background — which was pretty cool.”

In the Season 3 Games of Thrones episode, “The Rains of Castamere,” the wedding between Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies) and Roslin Frey (Alexandra Dowling) turned out to be a sinister scheme by Walder Frey (David Bradley) that led to the massacre of the Stark family and their army. The bloody plot ultimately led to the deaths of Robb Stark (Richard Madden), his wife, Talisa (Oona Chaplin), their unborn child, and Robb’s mother, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley).

Along with his minor role in Game of Thrones, Wiffen has also appeared in one episode of Netflix’s The Frankenstein Chronicles back in 2015. But aside from his brief stint in acting, he has mainly focused on swimming and eventually made it to the Paris Summer Games. 

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On July 30, Wiffen beat out Team USA’s Bobby Finke for the gold in the men’s 800m freestyle final and set a new Olympic record, finishing at 7:38.19. However, Finke beat Wiffen out for gold in the men’s 1500m final on Aug. 4, with Wiffen ending up with the bronze behind Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, who got silver.

With his gold medal win, Wiffen became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to win a gold medal in 36 years. 

“To be honest, the 800m surprised me at the start of the week,” he told BBC Sport. “Coming into this race I was ready. I completely was in the right shape to go a lot faster than the world record but that’s just swimming — some days you have it, some days you don’t.” 

While Wiffen said he had “higher aspirations” for the men’s 1500m final, he is still proud of his performance in both events. 

“If you’d told me I’d get a bronze medal at the start of the week, I’d be over the moon.” he continued.  Now I’m coming away with gold and a bronze, it’s kind of special.”

For Wiffen’s final Olympic event, he will be swimming in the men’s open water 10k final on Friday, Aug. 9. 

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