David Florence

David Florence (born 8 August 1982) is a retired British slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1999 to 2021.

Florence was the first canoeist since Charles Dussuet, sixty years earlier, to achieve the C1, C2 double at the same World Championships.

[4] 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.

[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.

[10] After the event Florence said he had been inspired by the sight of Rebecca Adlington winning her 400 metres freestyle gold medal the day before.

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 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.

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.