David Florence

Having been born in Aberdeen, Florence lived in Edinburgh between the ages of 7 and 18 on the same street as future world and Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy.[4] He attended Roseburn Primary School and Stewarts Melville College secondary school.[5] He began canoeing at the age of 14, on the Water of Leith, and was eventually invited to join the Forth Canoe Club, where most of his training was done on the Union Canal.[4] He went to the University of Nottingham and studied mathematical physics,[6] but says his main reason for choosing to move to Nottingham was because it is the home of the National Watersports Centre.[4] His father, George, is a former Scottish canoeing champion and his brother, Fraser also canoes for Scotland. His Uncle Angus Florence also canoed for Scotland.[7]

Florence finished 4th in the 2005 European Championships and 15th in the World Championships the same year. He also won a bronze medal in the World Cup event in Seu. In 2006 he improved to a sixth-place finish in the World Championships, won a bronze in the C1 team, and took the gold medal at the World Cup in Augsburg. In 2007 he took 5th place at the World Championships and two World Cup medals, bronzes in Prague and Augsburg.[2] In 2009 he started competing in C2 alongside Richard Hounslow and he won a bronze in the C2 team event at the 2009 World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell. He went on to win a bronze in the C2 event at the 2010 World Championships in Tacen and another one in the C2 team event at the 2011 World Championships in Bratislava. At the 2013 World Championships in Prague he won 2 golds (C1 and C2) and 1 bronze (C2 team). He won a silver medal in the C1 team event at the 2017 world championships in Pau.

He won a total of eleven medals at the World Championships with three golds, one silver and seven bronzes. In 2009 he won the overall World Cup title in C1. Florence also has seven medals from the European Championships (1 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronzes).

¹ Pan American Championship counting for World Cup points

² Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

Before the 2008 Olympics Florence had applied to become an astronaut in the European Space Agency's astronaut training programme in response to an advert he had seen, and was so serious about it that he began learning Russian, a mandatory requirement for the position. However he was not among the four people selected from the 8,400 applicants and received a rejection letter a short time before the start of the Olympics.[9][12] After winning his Olympic medal he said of the application; "It wasn't a whim... It was an opportunity that came along to apply for something incredible. I tried but didn't get in."[13]

• Canoeing at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Florence.

• David Florence at the International Canoe Federation
• David Florence at the International Olympic Committee
• David Florence at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• "2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 11 September 2010 C2 men's final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2010. – Retrieved 11 September 2010.
• 12 September 2009 final results for the men's C2 team slalom event for the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships. – Retrieved 12 September 2009.
• British Olympic Association biography for David Florence
• "ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2019.