Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen has made it on the global stage in the sporting world, but it turns out he’s already appeared on screens across the planet for a different reason entirely.
The 23-year-old — who won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle and bronze in the 1500-meter freestyle at the Paris Olympics last week — appeared as an extra in one of the most famous scenes of “Game of Thrones” of all time: the Red Wedding massacre.
In an interview with Olympics.com, Wiffen spoke about his appearance in the 2013 episode, explaining that his sister, Elizabeth Wiffen, had portrayed one of Lord Walder Frey’s granddaughters, Neyela Frey, in the iconic series.
“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,” he told the site.
As a result, he and his twin brother, Nathan, ended up as extras.
“So she came in and did her bit, and then we came in for the Red Wedding, in the background, which was pretty cool,” he said.
Arturo Holmes via Getty Images
Wiffen also competed at the Tokyo Olympics, but didn’t take home any medals.
In winning the 800 last week, he became Ireland’s first athlete to win a gold in the pool in 28 years. He’ll also compete on Friday in the men’s 10km open water swim.
While Wiffen’s more focused on swimming these days, he hasn’t fully given up on being an entertainer, either, vlogging his swimming journey on a YouTube channel with his brother.
And he’d be willing to act again for the right role, he told Olympics.com.
“If something came up that I like, for instance, if I wanted to be in the new ‘House of Dragons,’ if I got offered that, I’d probably make some time to get into it,” he said.
“Game of Thrones,” based on books by George R. R. Martin, ended its eight-season run as one of the most popular TV shows of all time, winning dozens of awards and regularly drawing over 10 million viewers to HBO.
Its popular prequel series, “House of the Dragon,” just finished airing its second season.
