David Davies – 400m & 1500m Freestyle

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David Davies, Britain’s most outstanding swimmer and one of the brightest medal prospects for the future.  David’s fantastic performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics, winning Britain’s second only medal in the pool proved just what an extraordinary talent he has. 

 

David started swimming at his local swimming club in Barry, South Wales, when he was 7 years of age and a year later he joined his current club, The City of Cardiff.  He has been coached by Dave Haller since 2000 before this he was coached by Dave’s assistant, John Stow.

 

In 1999, David was selected to swim for the Welsh U15 team and hasn’t looked back since.  He broke through the ranks to be selected for the British junior team in 2001.  David competed at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Murcia, Spain and won a silver in the 200m Freestyle in a time of 1.55.04 before going on to be part of the 4x200m Freestyle Team, winning a second silver medal. This was also the first year that David won his age group at the National Championships in the 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle. 

 

It was in 2002 that saw David make a real splash in the swimming world.  David was British Short Course Champion for the 1500m and for the first time qualified for a place on the British Senior Team competing at the European Short Course Championships in Germany, where he won silver in the 1500m Freestyle. At the European Short Course Championships in Linz, Austria, David finished in 2nd place in the 1500m freestyle and won a bronze medal as part of the 4x200m Freestyle Team. For the second year running he became National Age Group Champion for the 200m & 400m Freestyle.

 

Aged only 17, David’s great form continued, swimming for Wales at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, he caused quite a sensation when he remarkably took 50 seconds off his personal best in the 1500m Freestyle finishing in 6th place indicating his medal winning potential on the world stage.  He decided to concentrate on the 1500m with the aim of securing a place on the Olympic team for Athens in 2004 and made it into the World Top 15 and was voted ‘Best European Newcomer 2002’.

 

In 2003, David’s Silver in both the 1500m & 800m Freestyle and Bronze in the 400m secured him with a place on the British Team for the World Championships in Barcelona, just missing out on a medal in 4th place in the 1500m. At the European Junior Championships in Glasgow David took home Gold in the Freestyle 1500m, Silver in the Freestyle 200m and Bronze in the Freestyle 400m.

To top off another great year David was awarded Welsh Sports Personality of the year and the Carwyn James Award for Welsh Junior Male.

                                                                                                           

In 2004, David continued to excel. In Florida, he won Gold at the USA Spring Championships for the 1500m Freestyle, proving his continued development in the 1500m Freestyle he set a new British Record of 14.57.93 at the British Championships.

 

The highlight of David’s career to date is the Olympic Bronze medal he won for his brilliant performance in the 1500m Freestyle in Athens. He came third behind Australia’s Grant Hackett and America’s Larsen Jensen. Grant Hackett set a high standard, being just the 4th man ever to win the race twice at the Olympics in a time of 14.43.40. David had the race of his life setting a new European Record & personal best of 14.45.95, making him the second only British medal winner in the pool at the 2004 Games. On his return to the UK David participated in the Olympic Heroes Parade in central London, before returning to Cardiff to continue with his preparation for the European Short Course Championships in Vienna.

 

Once again, David excelled and continued breaking records. He knocked another 10 seconds off his 1500m Freestyle time (short course), achieving a new personal best, 14.32.56 before setting a new British Record of 14.45.95 over the long course at the end of 2004. That year David was voted 3rd at ‘The Welsh Sports Personality of the Year’ Awards, whilst picking up the ‘Star Swimmer’ and ‘Performance of the Year’ awards at the Splash Awards.

 

Competing in Swansea, in June he managed to swim his second fastest time of the year, 15.08.51 in the 1500m freestyle even though he wasn’t fully prepared for the competition due to the lack of rest.

 

At the World Championships in Montreal, David’s focus was the 1500m. In the last phase of the final David moved from 4th to 2nd place clocking a fantastic time of 14.48.11. David continued to swim well, winning the trials for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in a time of 14.59.20.

 

In January 2006, David’s entire focus became his preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne as he wanted to continue his pervious first class performance and achieve a great time. With immense pressure on his shoulders, David swam an amazing race, along way ahead of the field for the entire race. Maintaining a good pace he took the victory in the 1500m securing the first Welsh Commonwealth Gold in the pool since 1974, clocking a time of 15.57.63, which considering he had no one to push him was fantastic. Earlier in the Games, David had already won bronze in the 400m Freestyle, setting a new personal best and Welsh record of 3.49.44.

 

Despite this excellent start to 2006 the following months proved difficult as David spent a large part of the year recovering from a foot injury. Once this was clear however David immediately set his sights on the 2007 World Championships where he was to return to Melbourne in a bid to add to his already impressive medal haul.

David qualified fastest for the final where he faced Olympic and defending World Champion Grant Hackett (Australia) as well as Olympic silver medallist Larsen Jensen (USA). Despite this the danger ended up coming from other quarters and Gold went to Mateusz Sawrymowicz of Poland, who lead the race from the first third, in a time of 14:45.94 while Russia's Yury Prilukov took the silver in 14:47.29. Despite the fierce competition in the race David finished third, taking the Bronze medal in a time of 14:51.21. Not only was this another medal for David but also the third fastest swim of his career, all in all representing a highly successful Championships.

 

Having been pre-selected for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing David now has an intensive training schedule planned in the lead up to the games where he hopes to build on his outstanding success in Athens in 2004. As an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games medal winner David has been in very high demand out of the pool and receives a great deal of support from Speedo, Uskmouth Power and For Goodness Shakes, but still found time to fit in media interviews promoting the 2012 London Olympics.

 

David’s intensive training regime means he’s in the pool six days a week, generally twice a day. In his rare spare time he enjoys watching his beloved Cardiff FC and is a strong supporter of Welsh Rugby. Additionally, David his love for music means he

uses dance music to motivate him before training and competitions but listens to indie music in his time off. Being born and bred in Wales, David speaks conversational Welsh.

 

April 2007