David Geoffrey Parker (18 February 1959 – 25 May 2010) was a British swimmer.

Swimming career

Parker won a bronze medal in the 1500 m freestyle at the

1975 World Aquatics Championships The 1975 World Aquatics Championships took place in Cali, Colombia between July 19 and July 27, 1975, with 682 participating athletes. Medal table Medal summary Diving ;Men ;Women Swimming ;Men ;Women Synchronised swimming Wat ...

. In the preliminaries of the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

he improved the national record in the same event by seven seconds, yet failed to qualify. He won the 1975 and 1976 ASA British National 1500 metres freestyle title

Personal life

In 1976 he won a swimming scholarship at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

, but after half a year returned to UK, retired from swimming, and for two years worked with the police. He then opened a swimwear shop, first in Bristol and then moved to Cornwall. In 1998 he established a swimwear company Swim Products Limited, which he managed until 2010. In May 2010 he sold the company and his flat to return to Coventry, but died of a heart attack. He was survived by twin brother Gareth and sister Ann, also former competitive swimmers, and their parents Dennis and Lilian.

References

1959 births 2010 deaths Olympic swimmers of Great Britain Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics English male freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Coventry World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming {{UK-swimming-bio-stub