David Florence

Early life 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. He attended Roseburn Primary School and Stewarts Melville College secondary school. 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. but says his main reason for choosing to move to Nottingham was because it is the home of the National Watersports Centre.

Career 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.

2008 Olympics At the 2008 Summer Olympics, in Beijing, Florence competed in the C1 event. He finished second overall, winning the silver medal behind Slovak world number one Michal Martikán. He completed his preliminary runs of the course at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in 89.47 and 82.16 seconds, to lie 3rd overall, with a total time of 171.63 seconds, heading into the semifinal. His semifinal time of 90.46 seconds, qualifying him for the final in 4th place out of the ten advancing competitors. His final run of 88.15 seconds gave him a total time 178.61 seconds and meant he led with only Martikán left to compete, however the Slovak went almost 2 seconds faster to push Florence into the silver medal position.

2012 Olympics Florence qualified for the C1 event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London at the British trials. Thanks to the fact that his C2 partner Richard Hounslow qualified for the K1 event, they were able to start together in the C2 event as the second British boat in that category. Florence was a favourite to medal especially in the C1 event, but he failed to make the final after a semifinal run full of mistakes. He finished down in 10th place which was a disappointment for him as well as the local fans. He and Hounslow (who also had a disappointing run in K1) made amends in the C2 event where they were able to win the silver medal behind their compatriots Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott and ahead of the three-time defending champions Pavol and Peter Hochschorner.

World Cup individual podiums Total C1 6 7 8 21 C2 1 1 4 6 Total 7 8 12 27

SeasonDateVenuePositionEvent 2005 24 July 2005 La Seu d'Urgell 3rd C1 2006 4 June 2006 Augsburg 1st C1 2007 18 March 2007 Foz do Iguaçu 3rd C11 30 June 2007 Prague 3rd C1 15 July 2007 Augsburg 3rd C1 2008 21 June 2008 Prague 3rd C1 2009 1 February 2009 Mangahao 1st C12 28 June 2009 Pau 3rd C1 28 June 2009 Pau 3rd C2 2011 25 June 2011 Tacen 1st C1 13 August 2011 Prague 3rd C1 14 August 2011 Prague 3rd C2 2012 9 June 2012 Cardiff 1st C1 10 June 2012 Cardiff 1st C2 23 June 2012 La Seu d'Urgell 2nd C1 2013 23 June 2013 Cardiff 2nd C2 24 August 2013 Bratislava 2nd C1 2014 7 June 2014 Lee Valley 1st C1 21 June 2014 Prague 2nd C1 16 August 2014 Augsburg 2nd C1 17 August 2014 Augsburg 3rd C2 2015 20 June 2015 Prague 3rd C1 27 June 2015 Kraków 2nd C1 9 August 2015 La Seu d'Urgell 3rd C2 2018 30 June 2018 Kraków 1st C1 2021 13 June 2021 Prague 2nd C1 5 September 2021 La Seu d'Urgell 2nd C1

1 Pan American Championship counting for World Cup points 2 Oceania Championship counting for World Cup points

Astronaut application 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. 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."