Jason Dunford

On his way to final, he clocked 51.85, a new African record to beat Commonwealth Games Champion, Ryan Pini of Papua New Guinea in a swim-off for the 8th spot in the final.

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 winning gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, Universiade, All-Africa Games and African Championships, and reaching finals at the Olympics, World Championships and Short Course World Championships.

He also held African, Universiade and Olympic records.

He has worked as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, is a co-founder and adviser to software company, Safi and currently serves as the CEO of Baila Entertainment whilst performing as Samaki Mkuu, one half of the rap duo Romantico & Samaki Mkuu.

Jason is the son of Martin and Geraldine Dunford.

Martin Dunford is the Chairman of the Tamarind Group, which owns the Carnivore Restaurant.

Geraldine is granddaughter to Abraham Block, the founder of Block Hotels, an African hospitality conglomerate that previously owned The Norfolk Hotel, Keekorock, Treetops, Nyali Beach Hotel and the New Stanley, among others.

Martin was the vice-chairman of the Kenya Swimming Federation and the patron of the Nairobi Amateur Swimming Association (NASA).

He has two brothers, Robert and David.

His older brother, Robert, is a graduate of the London School of Economics and has several ultra-marathon swimming firsts to his name.

Jason Dunford started swimming competitively in 1991, 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 as a top swimmer in age group for the region.

At 13, the talented swimmer moved to study on a scholarship at Marlborough College in the United Kingdom.

Dunford competed in various races at the 2004 Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis, and 2005 World Championships in Montreal, but the young swimmer failed to advance past the heats.

While at Marlborough College 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 he who encouraged Jason to look to college in the US to develop his swimming career.

The previous Olympic record (51.25) was set by Michael Phelps at the 2004 Olympics.

His younger brother, David, was also an international swimmer and represented Kenya from 2005 to 2012.

In 2005, after finishing his A-Levels, Dunford moved to Stanford University in the United States where he earned a swimming scholarship.

He missed the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to a conflict with preparations for his first NCAA Championships.

The 2006 African Swimming Championships in Dakar, Senegal, marked a breakthrough moment for him as he became the first Kenyan ever to win a continental swimming medal with gold in the 100m butterfly on the first day of competition.

He went on to finish the competition with two gold medals (100m butterfly and 50m backstroke), three silvers (50m butterfly, 100m and 200m freestyle) and one bronze (50m freestyle).

He also broke a number of national records.

His younger brother David Dunford also performed well, winning two golds and one silver (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 50m backstroke).

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.

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.

At the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers Jason Dunford won three gold medals (50m, 100m and 200m butterfly), two silver (50m freestyle, 100m backstroke) and three bronze (50m backstroke, 100m and 200 m freestyle).

For his efforts at these games and the Melbourne World Championships, Dunford was awarded the Safaricom Kenyan Sportsman of the Year Award for 2007.

He also became the first Kenyan swimmer to qualify for the Olympics, gaining qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China in the 100m butterfly as well as the 100m freestyle.

On earlier occasions, some Kenyan swimmers have participated in the Olympics, but only on the IOC swimming wild card.

He participated the 2008 FINA Short Course World Championships in Manchester in April 2008 and reached the 100m butterfly final, finishing 8th.

At the 2008 Olympics he competed in two events.

In 2009, he graduated with a BA in Human biology, in 2012, he completed his MS in Earth Systems, and in 2016 he returned to the same campus, graduating with his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in June 2018.

In Shanghai he reached semi-finals in two events: 100 metres freestyle and 100 metres butterfly.

In the 100-metre freestyle heats, he finished 24th overall, missing the semi-finals.

He did, however, set a new national record of 49.06.

In his main event, the 100-metre butterfly, he qualified for the semi-finals, posting a new Olympic record of 51.14, and simultaneously bettering his own African record.

On 28 June 2014, he married Lauren Dunford (nee Finzer) of Albany, California, daughter of William Finzer and Brigid McCaw.