Jamaica has Usain Bolt, Ukraine has Vasiliy Lomachenko, Argentina has Lionel Messi, and now the Cayman Islands has Jordan Crooks.
Some may believe that Crooks doesn’t deserve to be mentioned with those sporting legends, but I would strongly disagree. I believe the name Jordan Crooks will live on as an inspiration in these little Cayman Islands.
In doing my best to justify that statement, I will point out the obvious reason: That he is our first World Champion, and no one else can ever take that title from him. However, I want to break down and put this into perspective for those who don’t understand what Jordan has accomplished.
His performance at the FINA World Championships earned him a historic medal, but it also tied him for the fourth fastest short course swimmer in history after he swam 20.31 seconds.
Competitive swimming has its origins from the early 1800s. Since then, thousands of swimmers have taken up the sport, but only three can say that their time is faster than Jordan’s. Think about that for a second. A boy from an island just 22 miles long now finds himself among the top five fastest 50-metre freestyle swimmers of all time – that’s unheard of.
Here is something else to think about. His time of 20.31 was just 0.15 seconds off Caeleb Dressel’s world record and 0.05 seconds off the meet record. It’s truly unbelievable, a Caymanian being on the brink of holding a world record.
As a journalist, I usually keep my opinion to myself in a public forum, but as a Caymanian, I can’t help but emphasise to my people how incredible this is for us.
Jamaica takes great pride in Bolt for what he accomplished in athletics, Ukraine for Lomachenko in boxing and Argentina for Messi in football. In their countries, there is no one greater than those athletes in their respective sports and it’s the same for Crooks here in Cayman. The only difference is fewer people know about him, but I have a feeling that will change in the near future.
– Seaford Russell Jr, [email protected]
Related Videos
I agree 100% with the pride you have for this athlete. It was an incredible swim under what must have been unbelievable pressure for Jordon. This effort did not come without years of hard work. The good news is that Jordon is relatively young and has the potential to break this record and set new ones in future meets.
Even more amazing when one remembers that there is no Olympic size pool in Cayman to train in.