Jason Dunford

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Medal record
Competitor for Kenya
Men’s Swimming
All-Africa Games
Gold	2007 Algiers	50 m Butterfly
Gold	2007 Algiers	100 m Butterfly
Gold	2007 Algiers	200 m Butterfly
Silver	2007 Algiers	50 m Freestyle
Silver	2007 Algiers	100 m Backstroke
Bronze	2007 Algiers	50 m Backstroke
Bronze	2007 Algiers	100 m Freestyle
Bronze	2007 Algiers	200 m Freestyle

Jason Edward Dunford (born November 28, 1986 in Nairobi) is a swimmer from Kenya. He is predominantly a butterfly and freestyle sprinter. He is an African champion, All-Africa Games gold medalist and World Championships finalist. Many of his achievements are unprecedented in the history of Kenyan swimming. He belongs to the White minority in Kenya.

1 Family life
2 Early career
3 Continental top
4 References

[edit] Family life

Jason is son to Martin and Geraldine Dunford. Martin Dunford is the Chairman of the Tamarind Group, which owns the famous Carnivore Restaurant ^[1], Geraldine, granddaugther to the famous Abraham Block, founder of Block Hotels is the marketing executie. Martin is also the vice chairman of the Kenya Swimming Federation and the patron of the Nairobi Amateur Swimming Association (NASA) ^[2] . He has two brothers, Robert and David. The elder, Robert, is a graduate of the London School of Economics where he was captain of the Rugby Club. The younger brother, David, is also a swimmer and represents Kenya.

[edit] Early career

Jason Dunford started swimming at the age of five and it was while at Kenton College, a primary school in Nairobi, under coach Andrew Nderu, that he began to establish himself on the age group scene in Nairobi.^[2] . At the age of 13, the talented swimmer moved to study at Marlborough College (a high school) in the United Kingdom ^[3]. It was here that he met coach Peter O'Sullivan, himself a former Great Britain International Swimmer in the 400 m Individual medley. O'Sullivan had swum at the University of Georgia, and it was him who encouraged Jason to look to college in the US to develop his swimming career. After finishing his A-Levels, Dunford moved to Stanford University in the United States where he earned a swimming scholarship. He is pursuing a major in Human biology ^[4].

[edit] Continental top

At the 2006 African Swimming Championships in Dakar, Senegal, he became the first Kenyan ever to win a continental swimming medal with gold in the 100 m butterfly on the first day of competition. He went on to finish the competition with two gold medals (100 m butterfly and 50 m backstroke), three silvers (50 m butterfly, 100 m and 200 m freestyle) and one bronze (50 m freestyle)^[4]. He also broke a number of national records. His younger brother David Dunford also performed very well, winning two golds and one silver (100 m backstroke, 200 m backstroke and 50 m backstroke) ^[5].

His success in 2006 earned him second place in the Kenyan Sportsman of the Year award, behind Alex Kipchirchir, one of Kenya's many world-class runners. His brother David Dunford was selected as the most promising sportsman at the same awards ^[6].

Dunford participated in several races at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. His best result was reaching a 100 m butterfly final, where he finished eighth. On his way to final, he clocked 51.85 ^[7], a new African record ^[8] to beat Commonwealth Games Champion, Ryan Pini of Papua New Guinea in a swim-off for the 8th spot in the final. He also became the first Kenyan swimmer to qualify for the Olympics, gaining qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China in the 100 m butterfly as well as the 100 m freestyle. On earlier occasions, some Kenyan swimmers have participated Olympics, but only on the IOC swimming wild card ^[8].

At the 2007 All-Africa Games Jason Dunford won three gold medals (50 m, 100 m and 200 m butterfly), two silver (50 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke) and three bronze (50 m backstroke, 100 m and 200 m freestyle) ^[9]. For his efforts at these games and the Melbourne World Championships, Dunford was awarded the Safaricom Kenyan Sportsman of the Year Award for 2007^[10].