Thomas Michael Jager (born October 6, 1964) is an American former competition swimmer. He is five-time Olympic gold medalist in relay events, a two-time World Championship individual gold medalist for the 50-meter freestyle, and a former world record-holder in two events. Jager set the 50-meter freestyle world record on six occasions during his career. He held this record for over ten years from August 1989 to June 2000.
Jager attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and swam for coach Ron Ballatore's UCLA Bruins swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1983 to 1985. He won NCAA individual national championships in the 100-yard freestyle (1983, 1984), the 50-yard freestyle (1984, 1985), and the 100-yard backstroke (1985). In 1984, he was honored as the Pacific-10 Conference Swimmer of the Year.
He was also an eleven-time United States national open champion.
Jager won seven Olympic medals for the United States. He won five gold medals in relay events. He also won an individual silver medal in the 50-meter freestyle in 1988, and an individual bronze medal in the 50-meter freestyle in 1992. [1]
At the World Championships, Jager won gold medals in the 50-meter freestyle in 1986 and 1991. He also won gold medals in the 50-meter freestyle at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in 1989 and 1991.
Though yard-based races are only competed in the United States, Jager also held the world record in the 50 yard freestyle of 19.05 seconds from 1990 until 2005. [2] [3] [4]
Jager was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2001. [5]
In 2004, Jager became the head coach of the University of Idaho's Idaho Vandals women's swim team. [6] Jager then accepted the head coaching position for the Washington State Cougars swim team at Washington State University in 2011. He is now the head coach of the Aspen Swim club in Colorado.
Tom is the youngest of a family of swimming siblings. While under a swimming scholarship at the University of Iowa, his eldest sister Diane was an All-American swimmer. His brother Bill qualified for Nationals while in high school and then went on to earn a full swimming scholarship at the University of Illinois. All three siblings went on to work as swimming coaches.
Tom has two sons, Wyatt (born 1996) and Cy (born 1999), both of whom swim for his swimming club, the Gold Medal Swim Club.
Matthew Nicholas Biondi is an American former competitive swimmer and water polo player. As a swimmer, he is an eleven-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in five events. Biondi competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning a total of eleven medals. During his career, he set three individual world records in the 50-meter freestyle and four in the 100-meter freestyle.
Michael Steward Heath is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in freestyle events. He is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a former world record-holder in two relay swimming events. A native of Texas, he won two national collegiate championship competing for the University of Florida. During his elite swimming career, Heath won ten medals in major international championships, including seven golds, two silvers and a bronze, spanning the Olympic Games, FINA World Championships, and Pan Pacific Championships.
'Kara Lynn Joyce, is an American former competition swimmer and four-time Olympic silver medalist. She competed as a member of the United States Olympic Team at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Maritza Correia, also known by her married name Maritza McClendon, is a former Olympic swimmer from Puerto Rico who swam representing the United States. When she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, she became the first Puerto Rican of African descent to be a member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She was the first female African-American swimmer for the United States to win an Olympic medal. She also became the first black American swimmer to set an American and world swimming record.
Dana Whitney Vollmer is a former American competition swimmer, five-time Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal as a member of the winning United States team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay that set the world record in the event. Eight years later at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Vollmer set the world record on her way to the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly, and also won golds in the 4×100-meter medley relay and 4×200-meter freestyle relay. She won three medals including a gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Dara Grace Torres is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games, and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events.
Thomas Fitzgerald Dolan is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Peter William Vanderkaay is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in middle-distance freestyle events and is a four-time Olympic medalist. 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.
Frederick Daniel Tyler is an American competitive swimmer and aquatics coach, winner of several high school and college championships and a gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 1972 Summer Olympics and author.
Chad Robb Carvin is an American former competition swimmer and Sydney 2000 Olympic Silver medalist in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. He was part of a team that set a world record in the 4x200 relay on March 17, 2000 in Athens, Greece.
Jon C. Olsen is an American former competition swimmer, four-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Olsen was a successful relay swimmer for the U.S. national team in the late 1980s and 1990s. He has won a total of 27 medals in major international competition, 20 gold, 5 silver, and 2 bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, Pan Pacific, and the Pan American championships.
Mehmet Uğur Taner is a retired Turkish-born American swimmer who was a High School All American, national public school record holder and Washington state champion specializing in sprint freestyle and butterfly. He competed for Turkey at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in five events, won a gold medal for the U.S. team in the September, 1994 Rome World Championships in the 4x100-meter relay, and was an All American swimmer at the University of California Berkeley.
Mary Alice Bradburne is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and television sports commentator. During her international swimming career, Wayte won ten medals in major international championships, including four golds.
Shaun M. Jordan is an American former competition swimmer who was highly successful as a member of the U.S. freestyle relay teams in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics.
Douglas Seneca Gjertsen is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Troy Lane Dalbey is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
Jill Ann Sterkel is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and water polo player. Sterkel won four medals in three Olympic Games spanning twelve years from 1976 through 1988. She was the women's head coach of the Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team at the University of Texas at Austin from 1993 to 2006.
Robin Leamy is an American former competition swimmer of Samoan and New Zealand descent who participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. He earned a gold medal by swimming for the winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Leamy also represented the U.S. in the Pan American and World Games, where he was a member of several U.S. World Record setting relay teams. Leamy also held the world record in the 50 meter freestyle from 1981 through 1985.
Caeleb Remel Dressel is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won a record seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, nine medals, six of which were gold, at the 2018 World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, and eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. Dressel is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 100 meter butterfly, 50 meter freestyle, and 100 meter individual medley.
Francis Townley Haas is a retired American competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle events. He is an Olympic gold medalist in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Haas competed collegiately for the University of Texas at Austin from 2015 to 2019 under head coach Eddie Reese where he was a 10-time NCAA Champion, a 17-time All-American, and a 3-time NCAA team champion. He is the former American record-holder in the 200-yard freestyle (1:29.50) and represented the Cali Condors in the International Swimming League.