Danyon Joseph Loader (born 21 April 1975) is an Olympic champion, former world record holder

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 New Zealand, based in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. He remains the national record holder in the 400 metre freestyle short course. He swam for New Zealand at two Summer Olympics (

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

) and three Commonwealth Games (

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

). At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, he garnered a silver medal in the 200 metre butterfly. In

1996 in Atlanta File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on ...

, Loader won two

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s: in the 200 and 400 metre freestyle. He set world records in the short course 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle. In the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, Loader was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to swimming, and he was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

in 2003. In December 2012, Loader starred in an online video campaign supporting

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, alongside New Zealand singers

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, and

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, as well as past

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Dame

Catherine Tizard Dame Catherine Anne Tizard (née Maclean; 4 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the 16th governor-general of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. She was the first ...

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* * * * * * * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Loader, Danyon 1975 births Male butterfly swimmers Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Swimmers at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games World record setters in swimming New Zealand male freestyle swimmers LGBT rights activists from New Zealand Living people New Zealand male swimmers Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Olympic swimmers of New Zealand Sportspeople from Timaru Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Olympic gold medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Swimmers from Dunedin 20th-century New Zealand people

See also

References

External links