Crooks focused and ready to swim his best at Olympics

With just under two months before the start of the Summer Olympics in Paris, swimmer Jordan Crooks is in the final phase of his preparation for the biggest competition of his life.

Crooks, 22, who began swimming in the salt water like most Caymanians, fishing and diving for conch and lobster – something he enjoys most – admitted that as a boy he didn’t see himself becoming the elite athlete he is today.

In fact, outside of his love for the sea, Crooks noted that swimming wasn’t his preferred sport.

“I enjoyed playing basketball more,” he told the Compass.

It’s hard to imagine that a kid growing up loving basketball would become Cayman’s first world champion who is now on the cusp of potentially earning his homeland’s first Olympic medal.

It is a possibility he doesn’t take likely, and he has been careful to take his career one step at a time.

“It means a lot and I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent my country and family on that stage,” he said.

Crooks is considered to be the standard-bearer for Cayman’s athletes, but his status was more the result of hard work than raw talent.

Through his first five CARIFTA Games, he returned home without a single medal and was outpaced at many local meets but, as legendary basketballer Michael Jordan once noted, sometimes failing over and over in life is the only way to succeed.

Crooks only became better, as he proved at his sixth CARIFTA competition, where he finished with seven medals as well as set multiple junior national records – already eclipsing his Caymanian predecessors.

He was a part of the first Cayman relay team at the 2019 World Championships, alongside Brett Fraser, Lauren Hew and Raya Embury-Brown.

Crooks, the fastest Caymanian swimmer ever, won gold at the FINA World Championships (short course) in a time of 20.31 seconds – tying him for the fourth fastest short course swimmer in history. The time was only 0.15 seconds off US swimmer Caeleb Dressel’s world record.

Crooks holds multiple SEC and NCAA records – all of which he set while competing for his school, the University of Tennessee – and he and Dressel are the only two swimmers ever to clock sub-18 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, both accomplishing that feat twice.

Removing the pressure

Crooks holds the two sprint national records (50m: 21.71, 100m: 47.71) – two A-cut Olympic times that he swam at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

Ahead of his Olympic debut, he is trying to stay even-keeled as he trains for sports’ biggest stage.

“Preparation has been going well,” he said. “I’ve been fine-tuning details and finding new [ways] to improve every day. My mindset during meet preparation usually involves a lot of mental training to prepare for the high-pressure situations such as walking out on the pool deck and that final whistle before stepping up onto the blocks.”

Though many within the sports and wider community believe that Crooks will be the one to earn Cayman’s first medal at the Olympics, the always-humble athlete is not carrying that weight on his shoulders.

“I try not to set specific goals for results or times for these kind of events,” he said. “I approach each one with the goal of swimming as fast as I possibly can and not limit myself to one specific result/goal,” a process he noted that has worked well and removes unnecessary pressure.

Crooks said his journey to the Olympics would not have been possible without his parents, Faith and James Crooks, extended family, and coaches.

“All played a major role in getting me to where I am today,” he said. “Coaches Caleb Miller, Brad Hutton, Katie Lambert, and Matt Kredich have also played a major role in developing me as a swimmer over the years.”

Crooks and Charlotte Webster are the only two athletes from Cayman confirmed for the Olympics due to their automatic qualifications, though the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee have not announced the official team for the Paris games.