John Dunbar is a retired

U.S. Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...

and Ironman triathlete. Dunbar finished 2nd in the first two Ironman races -

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. The competitive struggle between Dunbar and the fourteen other athletes in the

race was profiled in a ten-page, 6,175 word article titled "IRONMAN" in the May 14, 1979 issue of

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

magazine that is widely credited with launching triathlons into public prominence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, John American male triathletes Living people United States Navy sailors United States Navy SEALs personnel Year of birth missing (living people)