Donald Sanford

Achievements Sanford's club is Maccabi Tel Aviv, and he is coached by Lloyd Cowan.

A little over a month later, he ran in the 2012 Summer Olympics. His shoes were stolen from his bag just ahead of his qualifying heat, and he had to run in a teammate's shoes. He finished fifth in a time of 45.71 seconds, in a race won by double-amputee South African Oscar Pistorius, and did not make it out of the qualifying rounds. He was ranked 26th, two places and one-tenth of a second behind the runners who qualified for the semifinals.

At the 2013 Maccabiah Games, Sanford broke the Israeli record and won the gold medal in the 400 meter race with a time of 45.65, defeating Australian Olympic finalist Steven Solomon.

In 2014, Sanford won the bronze medal in the 400 metres sprint at the European Athletic Championships held in Zurich on August 15, 2014, with a new Israeli record of 45.27 seconds. He dedicated his medal to the Israel Defense Forces.

In December 2014, he was named Israeli Sportsman of the Year.

In June 2015, competing for Israel at the 2015 European Games, Sanford won the 400 m in 45.75, a European Games record, as Team Israel won a bronze medal.

Sanford competed for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He ran the 400m and finished in 5th place in his heat in a time of 46.06, 10 split-seconds behind the semi-final qualifying time, and placed 33rd overall.

Personal life Sanford and his wife, Israeli native Danielle Dekel-Sanford, married in 2008, and live in Kibbutz Ein Shemer about an hour north of Tel Aviv with their children, Amerie Ann and Rylee. His wife's father, Ehud Dekel, was the first Israeli to compete in four different sports in Israel's highest sports league, the First League. His older sister, Donnisha "CoCoa" Sanford was a member of the 2004 Pac-10 regular-season championship team for the University of Arizona women's basketball team. She also played professional basketball overseas from 2009 to 2012.

Personal bests Distance Time Place Date 400m 45.21 sec Eugene, United States June 13, 2010 400m 45.27 sec Zurich, Switzerland August 15, 2014 400m 45.04 sec Zhukovsky, Russia July 19, 2015