Daniel Wiffen could not hold back the tears after he became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to win an Olympic gold medal in 36 years.

The swimmer, who represents Republic of Ireland, won the men’s 800m final in thrilling fashion at La Defense Arena.

The 23-year-old came storming down the final 50 metres to hold off USA’s Bobby Finke in an Olympic record time of 7:38.19.

On a big night for Northern Ireland, just an hour later Jack McMillan followed Wiffen in winning gold. He was part of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team for Great Britain.

"I don’t normally cry. I was hoping no one would get to see that,” Wiffen said.

“It’s a special moment. I dreamed of this every day of my life. I’ve never heard that national anthem at the Olympics before, and it’s crazy to say that it was me standing on that podium.

“I always knew I had it in my head, I just had to put it in the pool. I’ve done so much work in the past four years.

“I’ve been training so hard, I knew something was coming, something special. I’m not going to lie, I thought the time would be a bit faster. I’m a bit disappointed but it’s all right.”

Wiffen is the first athlete from Northern Ireland to win gold since Stephen Martin and Jimmy Kirkwood with Team GB’s 1988 hockey teamm and the first individual gold medallist since Lady Mary Peters won the pentathlon in 1972.

He was born in Leeds but moved to County Down at the age of two, and now trains under director of swimming Andi Manley at Loughborough University. He also becomes the first Olympian from Northern Ireland to win Olympic gold for Ireland.

"This is not the end of it. I’m only 23,” he added.

“The peak age for my event is 27. Who knows what is going to happen, but I’m very happy to say I’m Olympic champion.

"I’ve been training every different scenario. Normally I try to hold on and burn everybody out, but at an Olympics it is different. My first 300m was terrible, my stroke was all over the place. But I was still in the race. Then my goal was to keep building. On the last turn, I put my head down. I was dying in the last 20 metres. The crowd carried me in."

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