Jillian Janis Geohagan Crooks (born 27 June 2006) is a

Caymanian Caymanians are the status holders or born citizens of the Cayman Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, citizens of the Cayman Islands will hold British Overseas Territories Citizenship. There is no record of a native people to the Cayman ...

competitive swimmer. She is the Cayman Islands record holder in the 50 metre butterfly and 100 metre freestyle. She competed in the

100 metre freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

at the 2020 Summer Olympics, placing 41st in the prelims heats."Jillian Janis Geohagan Crooks: Results"
''

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

''. Retrieved 11 November 2021.

Background

Following a brief residence in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

state of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

in late 2021, she moved to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

in 2022, where she trains for her swimming with Total Swimmer Aquatics, and she represents the Cayman Islands in international swimming competitions.Theodoulou, Noelle (2 June 2022)
"Siblings Jordan And Jillian Crooks Will Rep Cayman Islands At 2022 World Champs"
''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

''. Retrieved 6 September 2022. She has an older brother,

Jordan Crooks Jordan Crooks (born 2 May 2002) is a Caymanian competitive swimmer. He won the first medal of any color and first gold medal for the Cayman Islands at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. He also holds nine national records for t ...

, who is also a competitive swimmer. In 2022, Crooks committed to competing collegiately for the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

swim team, the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

, starting in the autumn of 2024.Brandes, Chandler (25 September 2022)
"Cayman Islands National Record Holder Jillian Crooks Verbally Commits to Tennessee For 2024"
''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

''. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

Career

2021

2020 Summer Olympics

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan, Crooks took 41st-place in the

, not advancing to the semifinals with her Cayman Islands national record setting time of 57.32 seconds."Crooks clocks new 100m free national record in Olympic heat"
''Cay 03 Sports''. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021. She was the youngest competitor from the Cayman Islands at the 2020 Summer Olympics in any sport, as well as the youngest Olympian from the country across all previous editions of the modern

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

her country competed at."Jillian Crooks to become Cayman's youngest Olympian"
''Cay 03 Sports''. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021. Prior to the start of competition, Crooks served as one of two swimmers turned flag bearers for the Cayman Islands at the opening ceremony

Parade of Nations The Olympic Games ceremonies of the Ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of these Games; the modern Olympic games have opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies date back to the Ancient Games fro ...

, which made her one of 86 swimmers to carry the flag for their nation.Miller, Nicole (23 July 2021)
"Over 80 Swimmers Carry Flags In Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremonies (Full List)"
''

''. Retrieved 11 November 2021. Leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games, she was one of a number of swimmers to set Cayman Islands records at the Cayman Islands qualifying meet for the Olympic Games held in Clermont, United States.Russell, Seaford Jr (7 May 2021)
"National records broken during UANA Olympic Qualifier"
''Cayman Compass''. Retrieved 3 August 2021.

Competing in Alaska

Crooks was born and raised in the Cayman Islands, and following the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021 she temporarily moved to the state of

in the

when she was just 15 years old to compete scholastically for Homer High School for one season.Rodenberger, Jordan (9 November 2021)
"Athlete of the Week: Jillian Crooks — How the Cayman Islands' youngest ever Olympian made waves in Homer, Alaska"
'' Alaska's News Source''. Retrieved 10 November 2021. She moved to

Homer, Alaska Homer ( Dena'ina: ''Tuggeght'') is a city in Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is southwest of Anchorage. According to the 2020 Census, the population is 5,522, up from 5,003 in 2010. Long known as the " Halibut Fishing ...

for a few months, including competing for the high school swim team, because she had a family friend who was a coach there and wanted to test out swimming in the United States, and Alaska specifically, to see if she could win a few state tiles and set a few state records in the country, which she successfully did.De George, Matthew (10 November 2021)
"Lydia Jacoby Wins Two Titles, Goes 59.66 in 100 Breast at Alaskan State Champs"
''

''. Retrieved 11 November 2021. She won two state titles and set state records in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle events and was one of two Olympians to compete at the 2021 Alaska State High School Championship, the other being Alaska native, Alaska born and raised, and Olympic

gold medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

Lydia Jacoby Lydia Alice Jacoby (born February 29, 2004) is an American professional swimmer. She was the first Alaskan to qualify for an Olympic Games in swimming, competing at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, where she won the gold medal in the ...

who won

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can b ...

and

individual medley Medley is a combination of four different swimming styles—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle—into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as a medley relay. Individual ...

events.Reed, Josh (7 November 2021)
"At Alaska's state high school swim meet, excitement for 2 Olympians competing on a different stage"
''

Anchorage Daily News The ''Anchorage Daily News'' is a daily newspaper published by the Binkley Co., and based in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the most widely read newspaper and news website (adn.com) in the state of Alaska. The newspaper is headquartered in Anchorage, ...

''. Retrieved 11 November 2021. Later in the month, she competed at the

2021 Junior Pan American Games The 2021 Junior Pan American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Panamericanos Junior 2021'') was an international multi-sports event for athletes aged 17 to 22 in the Americas, organized by Panam Sports held in Cali and Valle, Colombia between November 25 ...

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the secon ...

, Colombia, placing tenth in the 100 metre backstroke, eleventh in the 50 metre freestyle, twelfth in the 100 metre freestyle, thirteenth in the 200 metre freestyle, and eighteenth in the 200 metre individual medley."Jillian Crooks"
(in Spanish). ''

Panam Sports The Panam Sports (Formerly Pan American Sports Organization; es, link=no, Organización Deportiva Panamericana; pt, link=no, Organizacão Depórtiva Panamericana; french: Organisation Sportive PanAméricaine) is an international organization whi ...

''. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

2022

At her first senior

World Aquatics Championships The FINA World Championships or World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships for aquatics sports: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. They are run by FINA, and all swimming event ...

, Crooks placed twenty-ninth in the

with a time of 57.24 seconds on day five of swimming competition at the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

, held in June at

Danube Arena The Danube Arena (in Hungarian: ''Duna Aréna'', unofficially ''Dagály Budapest Aquatics Complex'') is an aquatics complex located in Budapest, Hungary. It was designed by Marcell Ferenc and built between 2015 and 2017. Design and construction O ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

(22 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Women's 100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary"
''

Omega Timing Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

''. Retrieved 3 January 2023. Two days later, she competed in the 50 metre freestyle for the first time at a World Championships, placing forty-first with a time of 26.75 seconds.

(24 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Women's 50m Freestyle Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved 3 January 2023. Six months later, as a 16-year-old at the 2022 World Short Course Championships in December in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia, she placed twenty-fourth in the 50 metre butterfly with a Cayman Islands record time of 26.40 seconds.

(13 December 2022)
"16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 50m Butterfly Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved 3 January 2023.Seaford Russell Jr (13 December 2022)
"Crooks siblings setting records on world stage"
''Cayman Compass''. Retrieved 3 January 2023. The following day, she placed twenty-sixth in the

with a Cayman Islands record time of 54.20 seconds, which was 2.16 seconds behind first-ranked preliminaries swimmer

Siobhán Haughey Siobhán Bernadette Haughey (; born 31 October 1997; pronounced ( ) is a Hong Kong competitive swimmer. She became the first Hong Kong swimmer to win an Olympic medal and the first Hong Kong athlete to win two Olympic medals in any sport, after ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

(14 December 2022)
"16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved 3 January 2023.Seaford Russell Jr (20 December 2022)
"Jillian Crooks back home after record-breaking World Championships"
''Cayman Compass''. Retrieved 3 January 2023.

International championships (50 m)

International championships (25 m)

Personal best times

Long course metres (50 m pool)

Short course metres (25 m pool)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crooks, Jillian Living people 2006 births Caymanian female swimmers Olympic swimmers for the Cayman Islands Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Place of birth missing (living people)