Peter William Vanderkaay (born February 12, 1984) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in middle-distance freestyle events and is a four-time Olympic medalist. [1] He was a member of the United States Olympic team in 2004, 2008, and 2012, and won bronze medals in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 400-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics. [2] [3]
Vanderkaay was born in Royal Oak, Michigan. [4] He grew up in Oakland Township, and attended Rochester Adams High School in Rochester Hills. He has three brothers, all of whom are competitive swimmers. His older brother Christian swam for the University of Michigan and qualified for the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2008 Olympic trials. His younger brother Alex qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials in several events, competing and making the finals in the 400-meter individual medley, 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter medley. His third and youngest brother, Dane, also qualified for the 2008 US Olympic trials in the 400-meter freestyle. [5]
Vanderkaay and his family are supporters and volunteers for the YMCA's Detroit SWIMS initiative with a goal to teach every child in the City of Detroit to swim by the fifth grade.
Vanderkaay threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Detroit Tigers baseball game on September 4, 2012.
Peter Vanderkaay is a two-time Michigan high school state champion in the 500-yard freestyle (2001, 2002), and is the 2001 state champion in the 200-yard freestyle. He graduated in the class of 2002, and swam for the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Vanderkaay captured four NCAA titles and 14 Big Ten Conference titles. He also won a silver and two bronze medals representing the US at the 2003 World University Games. In his first year in college, he was Big Ten Champion in the 500-yard freestyle and the 800-yard freestyle relay. He also was CSCAA All-American in the 500 and the mile.
By the end of his second year, he won four more Big Ten titles in the 400-yard IM, 500-yard freestyle, 1,650 freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relay. In short course metric distances, Vanderkaay also was the NCAA champion in the 400-meter free, the 1,500-meter free and the 800-meter free relay, and placed fifth in the 200-meter free.
In his junior year, Vanderkaay repeated his four Big Ten victories, and was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year. He was named All-American in the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle, 800-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay. In his senior year at Michigan, he was the senior co-captain for the Michigan Wolverines. He won four more Big Ten titles, 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, 1,650-yard freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relay, and one final NCAA title in the 500. Vanderkaay also placed second in both the 200-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle events at the NCAA national championships.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Vanderkaay was a member of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, along with Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Klete Keller, that beat the favored Australian team of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Michael Klim, and Nicholas Sprenger.
At the 2005 World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Vanderkaay won a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Along with Phelps, Lochte, and Keller, their time of 7:06.58 was an American record. [6]
At the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia, Vanderkaay again swam in the relay with Lochte, Phelps, Keller. They set a world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with a time of 7:03.24. [7]
In the summer of 2007, Vanderkaay posted a career performance at U.S. Nationals, beating Michael Phelps for first place in the 400-meter freestyle. Vanderkaay also teamed up with Phelps, Davis Tarwater, Scott Spann, and Chris DeJong to win two more golds, one in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and another in the 4×100-meter medley relay.
Vanderkaay won his first individual medal, a bronze, in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Vanderkaay was part of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay that set the world record as the American team finished first with a time of 6:58.56. The Americans were the first team to break the seven-minute mark in the relay, and broke the previous record, set in Melbourne by more than four and a half seconds. [8]
On December 20, 2010, Vanderkaay announced that he would be leaving Ann Arbor and Club Wolverine, where he had trained for over eight years, to move to Gainesville, Florida and train with the Gator Swim Club. The Gator Swim Club is affiliated with the University of Florida and is coached by Gregg Troy, the head coach of the 2012 U.S. Olympic men's team, and is home to several elite swimmers including Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Elizabeth Beisel.
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, the qualifying event for the U.S. Olympic team, Vanderkaay won the 400-meter freestyle event with a time of 3:47.67, thus qualifying to represent the United States in the event at the 2012 Olympics. He also competed in the 1,500-meter freestyle, but placed fourth. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Vanderkaay won a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3:44.69, finishing third behind Sun Yang and Park Tae-Hwan.
Klete Derik Keller is an American former competitive swimmer. Before retiring from swimming in 2008, Keller won five Olympic medals, including two golds, at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Thomas Fitzgerald Dolan is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Erik K. Vendt is an American former competition swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter individual medley. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Vendt won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team, swimming in the preliminary heats of the relay event.
Ryan Steven Lochte is an American former competition swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. He is the third-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by total number of medals, behind only Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. Lochte's seven individual Olympic medals rank second in history in men's swimming, tied for second among all Olympic swimmers. He currently holds the world records in the 200-meter individual medley. As part of the American teams, he also holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle (mixed) relay.
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Richard Berens is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and current world record-holder. As a member of the U.S. national team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He competed in the 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter freestyle relay events, as well as the individual 200-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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The Golden Goggle Awards, presented by the USA Swimming Foundation, is an awards ceremony which recognizes and honors the accomplishments of swimmers who represented the United States, that is USA Swimming National Team members, over the last year. The awards were established in 2004 with the first awards ceremony held in November of the same year in New York City. There are eight main categories: Breakout Performer of the Year, Coach of the Year, Perseverance Award, Relay Performance of the Year, Male Race of the Year, Female Race of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, and Female Athlete of the Year. Nominees in each category are announced in advance of the awards ceremony and recipients of each award are revealed at the ceremony itself. Winners for each award are determined by a selection panel and fan votes. The awards ceremony serves as a fundraiser for the foundation, with seats and tables available for purchase and proceeds going to the foundation and other humanitarian efforts such as aid relief for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The dress code for attendees is black tie. Localities hosting the annual ceremony vary and include cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
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Daniel Lawrence Madwed is an American swimmer.
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Jacob Ryan Mitchell is an American swimmer and Olympian. He placed eighth in the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2019 World Junior Championships, he won a gold medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay. He currently competes at the collegiate level for the University of Michigan.
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