David Harvey Dunford (born 29 September 1988) is a

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

who specializes in sprint freestyle. He is an African champion,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...

finalist and the second Kenyan swimmer in history to qualify for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

(the first was his older brother

Jason Dunford Jason Edward Dunford, OGW, OLY (born 28 November 1986), also known as Samaki Mkuu, is a Kenyan Olympic swimmer, media personality, rapper and entrepreneur. During his swimming career he was predominantly a butterfly and freestyle sprinter winni ...

Career

His first major senior competition was the 2005 World Championships in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, but the young swimmer failed to advance heats. At the 2006 Short Course World Championships in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

he reached the 200 metres backstroke final, finishing 8th. At the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 ( Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

, he participated in several races, his best result being reaching a final and finishing 7th at 50 metre freestyle. Later that year, at the

2006 African Swimming Championships The 8th African Swimming Championships were held in Dakar, Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R ...

he won the 100 metres and 200 metres backstroke, becoming the first Kenyan African Champion alongside his brother Jason. David Dunford was selected as the Most Promising Sportsman in Kenya in 2006. In 2007, he participated in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa ( ...

. He competed in the

2008 FINA Short Course World Championships The 9th FINA Swimming World Championships (25 m) were held at the Manchester Arena, in Manchester, United Kingdom 9–13 April 2008. The United States topped the medal table with 10 gold medals, though host team Great Britain took home the mos ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in April 2008 and reached the 50m and 100m freestyle semifinals, finishing 12th in both races. David Dunford competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In the 50 metres freestyle race, he finished 20th overall in heats and missed the semifinals by only 0.12 seconds. He did not compete in the

2008 African Swimming Championships The 9th African Swimming Championships were held at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa from 1–7 December 2008. Participants Swimmers from 18 countriesA list of the countries with swimmers at the championships was included in the articlJess ...

due to his studies. At the

2009 Summer Universiade The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provi ...

he reached the 50 metres freestyle final, finishing sixth. At the 2009 World Championships he reached the semifinals in the 50m freestyle. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 50 and 100 metre freestyle.

Family life

Dunford is the son of Martin and Geraldine Dunford. Martin Dunford is the Chairman of the Tamarind Group, which owns the

Carnivore Restaurant Carnivore is an open-air restaurant in the Langata suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. Carnivore's specialty is meat, and features an all-you-can-eat meat buffet. They serve a wide variety of meat and were famous for their game meat until Kenya imposed a ba ...

in Nairobi; Geraldine, granddaughter of Abraham Block, founder of Block Hotels, is the marketing executive. Martin is also the vice chairman of the Kenya Swimming Federation and the patron of the Nairobi Amateur Swimming Association (NASA). He has two brothers, Robert and Jason. Jason is also a swimmer and represents Kenya. After early childhood in Kenya, David Dunford went to

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

, a secondary school in the United Kingdom, after which he attended Stanford University in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, where he studied Management Science and Engineering.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunford, David 1988 births Living people Kenyan people of British descent Kenyan male swimmers Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Olympic swimmers for Kenya Sportspeople from Nairobi Swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Kenya White Kenyan people African Games gold medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in swimming African Games silver medalists for Kenya African Games bronze medalists for Kenya Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games