Undeniably, we can never resist, right? Ahead of Daniel Wiffen’s final round in the 1,500m freestyle swimming in Paris, the RTÉ swimming connoisseurs back at the Donnybrook office seemed to possess an unbreakable fortune-telling sphere, each of them foreseeing a victorious future – a future with a “W” in it.
Without so much as a blink, they all met the gaze of the anchorman, Darragh Moloney, while unanimously forecasting the same outcome.
“Wiffen!”
“Wiffen!”
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TV Perspective: RTÉ’s team of four in the studio swept up in Wiffen fever, but the elusive ‘W’ never materialised.
“Wiffen!”
“Wiffen!”
The team of four reporters, Earl McCarthy, Gráinne Murphy, Barry Murphy, and a barefooted Andrew Bree, not only thought that Wiffen would seize the gold medal to supplement his 800m freestyle gold but also hinted that the four had discussed off-air about his potential for breaking the world record with his win. Another “W”!
Thus, when Daniel, the last of the eight finalists, joined his hands in a ‘W’ shape, who were we to question the prescient gentlemen and lady? It was predestined, wasn’t it? Wiffen. Winner. World record.
But then Murphy – who had lauded Wiffen as being in ‘absolute command of his fate’ – expressed a slight unease that the defending champion, American Bobby Finke, might pose a bit of a threat, perhaps.
John Kenny, the commentator, certainly shared such worries, even though his co-host Nick O’Hare (who happily regained his voice after having lost it last week, which left poor JK to take over for the majority of the swimming events) put forth another “W” by assuming that Wiffen would have an easy victory.
And didn’t his old mate Mark Foster – the British Olympian – assure him as much when they bumped into each other in the hallway?
Nonetheless, Kenny was not wholly persuaded. Kenny gave a timely reminder that Finke would act like a “mauled beast”, with his 800m title already seized by Wiffen, after we were informed by Nick that the only family member not accompanying Wiffen in Paris was Flash, his pet tortoise. Kenny posed the question to his colleague, “Do you think he has it in him to do a double?”
“Certainly,” O’Hare replied, as though he had a premonition of the future.
The competition turned into a kind of parade, but not with Wiffen leading the way. In a reality reflecting his metaphor, Finke stepped up, amplifying his lead to a great extent so that the world record’s yellow line (visible on our screens but mercifully not causing the swimmers to collide with it) dwindled behind the American.
O’Hare kindly illustrated the operation of the swimmers’ latissimus dorsi muscles prior to the foot kicks they would need for an additional burst toward the race’s conclusion. However, we were left anxiously anticipating Wiffen’s signature move. “This is becoming worrisome,” Nick commented, as the race surpassed the 1,000m point. “I anticipated him to be much nearer.”
Kenny maintained grace under pressure when his predictions didn’t materialise, and compassionately acknowledged Finke’s record-breaking world record and bronze medal result. “This is a substantial achievement, and deserves our respect,” he stated.
The tangible deflation in the RTÉ studio as focus switched back to Dublin from Paris gave an indication of the loftiness of the expectations set on Wiffen. Moloney mulled over whether the anticipation had been too excessive, strongly refraining from reminding the quartet of swimming analysts that there had been no tragic ending and that they ought to lighten the ambiance, but kept his silence.
Questioned on if their excitement had got the best of them, McCarthy was adamant in his response. “I sincerely doubt it. I don’t believe so.”
To add insult to injury, they had even jinxed the sports coverage, having shifted the men’s tennis final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz from RTÉ 2 to the RTÉ News channel to present the men’s golf competition, with Peter Collins presiding over the switch.
Rory McIlroy had a run of five consecutive birdies, putting him in a medal-winning standing as tennis was swapped for golf on air. However, as soon as the golf broadcast by RTÉ began, McIlroy misjudged his shot to the 15th green, falling short and landing in the water, to the disbelief of many, including commentator Tony Johnstone. To Johnstone’s surprise, another upset was added to the day’s list.
Despite this, the misfortune seemed to stick with McIlroy who couldn’t recover from his mistake. The curse may have extended to Jon Rahm too, when his substantial lead of four shots vanished. Instead, Johnstone had no choice but to heap praise on Scottie Scheffler, who had a world-class final round of 62, jumping to the top of the leaderboard as he remembered he was actually part of a tournament.
Thankfully, RTÉ also managed to return to tennis just in time for us to witness Djokovic’s tiebreaker victory against Alcaraz. It was here that we learned he was only the fifth player to achieve the prestigious Golden Slam, which includes victories in all four Grand Slams and the Olympics. It was no surprise to see him brought to tears by his achievement.