Daniel Wiffen £25,000 Olympic legacy donation provides new gym for St Patrick’s Grammar School, Armagh

The gold and bronze medal-winning swimmer was one of six Northern Ireland athletes representing Team Ireland and Team GB who clinched a record-breaking seven medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with four golds, one silver and two bronze in swimming, rowing and gymnastics.

The Olympic Medallist Fund, distributed by Sport NI and made possible thanks to funding from the Department for Communities, was split between the medallists with £20,000 for a gold medal, £10,000 for silver and £5,000 for bronze with the funding used for new equipment to expand opportunities to participate in sport. The Olympic heroes were each able to select a club or organisation to benefit from a share of the fund.

Having won both gold and bronze medals in Paris, swimming superstar Daniel received the highest award for donation at £25,000.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said: “Through the Olympic Medallist Fund, these sporting heroes can give back to their communities and sports, creating pathways for greater participation and inspiring our future medallists.”

Daniel has always maintained excellent links with his old school, St Patrick’s Grammar School in Armagh, and the school community has been 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 would be the ideal way to make best use of Daniel’s donation of his full £25,000 portion of the fund.

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 and Daniel, along with his twin brother Nathan and elder brother Ben, all past pupils, were so proud to visit the finished gym at the school.