Michael Gunning

Michael Gunning (born 29 April 1994) is a Jamaican-British competitive swimmer who is best known for participating in the 200 metre butterfly event. He competed in the 200 metre butterfly and the men's 200 metre freestyle event in both the 2017 World Aquatics Championships and 2019 World Aquatics Championships.

Gunning was a participant on the reality dating show The Bi Life hosted by Courtney Act, coming out as gay on the show in late 2018. He later went on to win the Pride Award at the Attitude Pride Awards 2019 for his efforts to raise LGBTQ+ visibility around the globe in sports. In 2022, Michael was a contributor in BBC One's 'Tom Daley: Illegal to be Me' documentary, and was announced as the Host at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games for the swimming events.

Early life and education
Gunning was born on 29 April at Farnborough Hospital in Kent, England. He attended Crofton Infant and Crofton Junior School, where he was presented with the Year 6 Outstanding Student Award by the Petts Wood and District Residents Association.

Gunning started swimming at the age of four and joined Beckenham Swimming Club at the age of seven. He had a big fear of the water as his parents were not strong swimmers, and went onto conquering the fear and qualified for the National Championships at the age of twelve. At thirteen, he won the top award for the best 13-year-old in the county and was identified as having Olympic Potential by the London Regional Development Programme.

He graduated from the University of East London in 2018 with first-class honours in Early Childhood Studies.

Career
Gunning made his Team GB debut when he represented England at the LEN European Cup in 2010 and concluded his GB representation at the European University Games in 2016, winning double gold in the 200 metre butterfly and 400 metre freestyle events.

Gunning is a survivor of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. Shortly after the event he decided to represent Jamaica; he had been eligible to compete for Jamaica or Great Britain, but wanted to inspire more people in the Caribbean. He competed in the 200 metre butterfly and the men's 200 metre freestyle event in both the 2017 World Aquatics Championships and 2019 World Aquatics Championships and represented Jamaica in the 2019 Pan American Games.

He is passionate about encouraging and inspiring more people of colour to take up swimming and removing the barriers he faced in sport.

In 2022, Gunning announced his retirement from competitive swimming as arguably the fastest male swimmer in Jamaican history.

Personal life
Gunning came out as gay whilst appearing on the reality dating show The Bi Life on E! Entertainment, making him Jamaica's first openly gay athlete on the National Team. During the show, he explained he wanted to inspire more people to be themselves in sport and be a LGBT role model for younger sports people to look up to. He later went on to win the Pride Award at the Attitude Pride Awards 2019 for his efforts to raise LGBTQ+ visibility around the globe in sports.

After retiring from competitive swimming in 2022, Gunning travelled to Jamaica with Tom Daley for BBC One's 'Tom Daley: Illegal to be Me' documentary. When asked about his experiences, he opened up around the bullying and hate messages he's received since coming out as gay, and his goals to support the LGBT community in the future.

Gunning continually champions LGBTQ+ rights and mental health in sport, and has spoken openly about both in multiple media publications. He also became a Kaleidoscope Trust Patron, alongside Tom Daley OBE, Munroe Bergdoff, Dustin Lance Black and Kyle De'Volle. During the Summer of 2022, Gunning officially opened Pride House Birmingham at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and hosted the live swimming events at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.