Michael Gunning (born 29 April 1994) is a Jamaican-British competitive

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 ...

who is best known for participating in the 200 metre butterfly event. He competed in the 200 metre butterfly and the men's 200 metre freestyle event in both the

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships () were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

and 2019 World Aquatics Championships. Gunning was a participant on the reality dating show '' The Bi Life'' hosted by

Courtney Act Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of ''Australian Idol' ...

, coming out as gay on the show in late 2018. He later went on to win the Pride Award at the Attitude Pride Awards 2019 for his efforts to raise LGBTQ+ visibility around the globe in sports. In 2022, Michael was a contributor in BBC One's 'Tom Daley: Illegal to be Me' documentary, and was announced as the Host at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for the swimming events.

Early life and education

Gunning was born on 29 April at Farnborough Hospital in Kent, England. He attended Crofton Infant and Crofton Junior School, where he was presented with the Year 6 Outstanding Student Award by the Petts Wood and District Residents Association. Gunning started swimming at the age of four and joined Beckenham Swimming Club at the age of seven. He had a big fear of the water as his parents were not strong swimmers, and went onto conquering the fear and qualified for the National Championships at the age of twelve. At thirteen, he won the top award for the best 13-year-old in the county and was identified as having Olympic Potential by the London Regional Development Programme. He graduated from the

University of East London University of East London (UEL) is a public university located in the London Borough of Newham, London, England, based at three campuses in Stratford, London, Stratford and London Docklands, Docklands, following the opening of University Squar ...

in 2018 with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

in Early Childhood Studies.

Career

Gunning made his

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

debut when he represented England at the LEN European Cup in 2010 and concluded his GB representation at the European University Games in 2016, winning double gold in the 200 metre butterfly and 400 metre freestyle events. Gunning is a survivor of the 2017

Manchester Arena bombing The Manchester Arena bombing, or Manchester Arena attack, was an Islamic terrorism in Europe, Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following Dangerous Woman Tour, a concert by the Americ ...

. Shortly after the event he decided to represent

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

; he had been eligible to compete for Jamaica or Great Britain, but wanted to inspire more people in the Caribbean. He competed in the 200 metre butterfly and the men's 200 metre freestyle event in both the

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships () were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

and

2019 World Aquatics Championships The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues.

and represented Jamaica in the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...

. He is passionate about encouraging and inspiring more people of colour to take up swimming and removing the barriers he faced in sport. In 2022, Gunning announced his retirement from competitive swimming as arguably the fastest male swimmer in Jamaican history.

Personal life

Gunning came out as gay whilst appearing on the reality dating show '' The Bi Life'' on

E! Entertainment E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies. ...

, making him Jamaica's first openly gay athlete on the National Team. During the show, he explained he wanted to inspire more people to be themselves in sport and be a LGBT role model for younger sports people to look up to. He later went on to win the Pride Award at the Attitude Pride Awards 2019 for his efforts to raise LGBTQ+ visibility around the globe in sports. After retiring from competitive swimming in 2022, Gunning travelled to Jamaica with

Tom Daley Thomas Robert Daley (born 21 May 1994) is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FI ...

for BBC One's 'Tom Daley: Illegal to be Me' documentary. When asked about his experiences, he opened up around the bullying and hate messages he's received since coming out as gay, and his goals to support the LGBT community in the future. Gunning continually champions

LGBTQ+ rights LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

and

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

in sport, and has spoken openly about both in multiple media publications. He also became a Kaleidoscope Trust Patron, alongside Tom Daley OBE, Munroe Bergdoff,

Dustin Lance Black Dustin Lance Black (born June 10, 1974) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and LGBT rights activist. He is known for writing the film ''Milk'', for which he won the Oscar for best original screenplay in 2009. He has also subsequen ...

and Kyle De'Volle. During the Summer of 2022, Gunning officially opened Pride House Birmingham at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

and hosted the live swimming events at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunning, Michael 1994 births Living people Jamaican male swimmers Place of birth missing (living people) Gay sportsmen LGBTQ swimmers Jamaican LGBTQ sportspeople Jamaican gay men Swimmers at the 2019 Pan American Games Male butterfly swimmers Jamaican male freestyle swimmers Pan American Games competitors for Jamaica Competitors at the 2017 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games English male freestyle swimmers English male butterfly swimmers British male freestyle swimmers British male butterfly swimmers People from Orpington Swimmers from the London Borough of Bromley English LGBTQ sportspeople English gay sportsmen Black British sportsmen English people of Jamaican descent Alumni of the University of East London 21st-century English sportsmen