People are all making the same joke as flags are raised after US swimmer Bob Finke secures silver in 800m freestyle

A trio of flags raised after the men’s 800m freestyle had a number of people making jokes about Catholics in the northeastern United States. 

The event saw an Irishman, Daniel Wiffen, take gold, an American, Bob Finke take silver, and an Italian, Gregorio Paltrinieri, take bronze.

So when the trio of flags were hoisted, it did not take long for jokes to come flooding in on social media.

‘Average Catholic school on the East Coast,’ wrote one person on Twitter.

Another added: ‘THE DEPARTED (2006)’, in reference to the epic crime thriller movie set in Boston that focuses on Irish-Italian relations in the US and features Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg.

Daniel Wiffen of Ireland (centre) pipped Bob Finke (left) and Gregorio Paltrinieri (right) to gold

Wiffen became the first Irishman to win gold in swimming at an Olympics

One fan was thinking exactly the same thing, writing: ‘WORLD NEEDS PLENTY A BARTENDERS!!’ – a famous line from the movie.

One viewer went along the same lines as they posted: ‘BROOKLYN (2015),’ a romantic film starring Saoirse Ronan who plays a young Irishwoman Eilis Lacey moving to the New York borough looking for work in the 1950s before she meets Italian-American Tony Fiorello.

Lacey is then told at a dinner with Fiorello’s family by his younger brother that Italians don’t like the Irish as they battled for jobs and housing in the US.

On Tuesday night, the three nations stood side-by-side on the podium, and the joke was not lost on one X user as they wrote: ‘As an Irish-Italian (ex) catholic in new jersey… yeah.’

Meanwhile, one viewer simply saw the image of the three flags and claimed: ‘This is brilliant!!’ 

Inside the pool, it was a thrilling battle between Wiffen, Finke and Paltrinieri that went down to the final few metres.

Jokes were made about the relations between the Irish and Italians in the US after Tuesday’s race, with one fan referring to the movie ‘Brooklyn’ that stars Saoirse Ronan (pictured)

With 100 metres to go it looked like Italy were set for the third gold medal in swimming when Paltrinieri took the lead, but Wiffen came storming back to touch first in a new Olympic record time. 

Wiffen, who hails from County Armagh, became the first male swimmer from Northern Ireland to win an Olympic gold medal for Ireland.

It was also Ireland’s first gold medal in the pool since 1996. 

He stood at the top of the podium as Amhran na bhFiann – the Irish national anthem – played at a men’s swimming event for the first time, and he could be back there again over the coming days.

Wiffen is due to compete in the 1500m freestyle and the open-water swimming event in Paris. 

USA’s Finke, who won gold in the 800m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, had to settle for silver this time around after an impressive final 50 metres, while it was bronze for Paltrinieri – who nabbed silver behind Finke in Tokyo just three years ago.