David Harvey Dunford (born 29 September 1988) is a
swimmer from
Kenya
)
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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, and, with the exce ...
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 vari ...
(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, 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 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.
He competed in the
2008 FINA Short Course World Championships in
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 Salford to the west. The t ...
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 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 Provin ...
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 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, 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 m ...
, where he studied Management Science and Engineering.
References
External links
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{{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