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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 News, is a co-founder and adviser to software company, Safi, and is the CEO of Baila Entertainment whilst performing as Samaki Mkuu, one half of the rap duo Romantico & Samaki Mkuu.
He has two brothers, Robert Dunford and David Dunford. His older brother, Robert, is a graduate of the London School of Economics and has several ultra-marathon swimming firsts to his name. His younger brother, David, was also an international swimmer and represented Kenya from 2005 to 2012.
On 28 June 2014, he married Lauren Dunford (nee Finzer) of Albany, California, daughter of William Finzer and Brigid McCaw.
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. Swimrankings.net profile – Season 2005
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. In 2005, after finishing his A-Levels, Dunford moved to Stanford University in the United States where he earned a swimming scholarship. In 2009, he graduated with a BA in Human biology,Stanford University: Jason Dunford 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. Swimrankings.net profile – Season 2006 He missed the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to a conflict with preparations for his first NCAA Championships.The Stansard, 6 October 2010: Jason Dunford qualifies for 50m butterfly final
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). Stanford University: David Dunford
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.The Standard 23 February 2007
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, Melbourne 2007 Swimming results a new African recordThe Standard, 13 July 2007: 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 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.
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). 2007 All-Africa Games For his efforts at these games and the Melbourne World Championships, Dunford was awarded the Safaricom Kenyan Sportsman of the Year Award for 2007.The Standard, 20 March 2008:
At the 2008 Olympics he competed in two events. 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. 2008 Olympics 100 metres freestyle results 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. The previous Olympic record (51.25) was set by Michael Phelps at the 2004 Olympics. 2008 Olympics, 100 metres butterfly results – Heat 7 Dunford's Olympic record did not last long; just a few minutes later Milorad Čavić of Serbia recorded 50.76, followed by two other swimmers (including Phelps) who beat Dunford's time. 2008 Olympics, 100 metres butterfly – Heat 9 He reached the final and finished fifth by swimming 51.47. 2008 Olympics – 100m butterfly final results
In December 2008 at the African Swimming Championships in Johannesburg he won three gold and two silver medals.The Standard, 3 January 2009:
His first major competition in 2009 was the Summer Universiade in Belgrade, where he won the 100 meters butterfly race in a time of 51.29.2009 Summer Universiade results service: Men's 100m Butterfly Finals Final A In the semi-finals he had swum a new Universiade record 50.85, The 25th Universiade Belgrade 2009 Swimming Bulletin № 5 10 July 2009 also beating the African record again. World University Games, Swimming: Jason Dunford Sets African Record, Rie Kaneto Claims Asian Mark, Incredible 50 Breast Semis , Swimming World Magazine online; published 2009-07-09, retrieved 10 July 2009 At the 50 meters butterfly race he got silver behind Jernej Godec of Slovenia, but was fastest in the semi-finals, his time 23.09 being new Universiade record, The 25th Universiade Belgrade 2009, Swimming, Bulletin № 1, 6 July 2009 still in force after the final, The 25th Universiade Belgrade 2009, Swimming, Bulletin № 2, 7 July 2009 Dunford was also the bronze medalist over 100 metres freestyle in a time of 48.73.
At the 2009 World Championships he finished sixth in the 50 m butterflyOmega Timing: Swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 50m butterfly final and 100 m butterflyOmega Timing: Swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 100m butterfly final races. In the 100 fly semi-finals he set a new African and Commonwealth record of 50.78.
He competed at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi taking the 50 m butterfly gold medal. It was the first swimming medal for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games.
In the presidential honors list for 2010, Jason Dunford was awarded an Order of the Grand Warrior from President Mwai Kibaki for his services rendered to the nation. This awarded elevated him from a Head of State Commendation he had received two years prior.
Then at the All Africa Games in Maputo he won gold medals in the 50 and 100m butterfly, silvers in the 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly and a bronze in the 50m freestyle.[23]
During the course of his MBA, he co-founded Safi Analytics with his wife Lauren and founded his own talk-show J-Talk Live.
Dunford began rapping in September 2018 after an invitation from Romantico to collaborate on the single Mbaya. In writing his rap for the first verse, he discovered his stage name Samaki Mkuu, composing the line "Naogelea nitakuwa Samaki Mkuu". The experience led to the formation of the duo Romantico & Samaki Mkuu, the creation of the new sound Gengetone, a merger of Genge and Reggaeton, that includes Swahili, Spanish and English lyrics. The duo's second song, Baila Baila, was a collaboration with the King of Genge, Jua Cali and was released in April 2019. Their third song, Chikicha, which launched in June 2019, was a collaboration with Munju Reh. Their fourth release, Caro, came out in November 2019. Samaki Mkuu then released his first single, a collaboration with his former colleague at the BBC, Peter Mwangangi and American folk singer, Sheeba Marie. Romantico & Samaki Mkuu released One, their first album together on 18 December 2019, with 11 gengetone tracks featuring artists Phoebe Alice-Ritchie, Dinah Ndombi, Peter Mwangangi, Sheeba Marie and Munju Reh.
On 1 April 2020, Samaki Mkuu released his second album, Unified:Un Ultimo Ulimwengu, a collaboration with Jus of Jabali Afrika featuring guest artists Romantico, Yawezekana Strong, Achienge Guyo and Daktare Dan.
Following that, Samaki Mkuu and Jabali Afrika released videos for several of the tracks on the album including Covid-19, Aoko (Remix), Bila Baba, a dedication to Dads, released on Father's Day, 2020 and Freedom, released on 4 July 2020.
The music video for the track Mombasa was released on 17 July 2020 as a dedication to the city. Mombasa appears as the 7th track on Jabali Afrika's 8th studio album, Khusaire, released on 28 June 2020, on which Samaki Mkuu is also featured on the tracks Free My Soul, The Music, Global Solidarity and Hope.
In 2021, Dunford was part of a collaboration for the track Usiende Mbali by Antonio Carmona of Ketama, Romantico & Samaki Mkuu, featuring Jabali Afrika and Sanaipei Tande.
Dunford's first solo album as Samaki Mkuu, title Ocean Waters was released in 2021
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