Tom Jager

American sprint freestyle swimmer who held the 50m freestyle world record for over a decade and won five Olympic gold medals, all in relay events, across three Games.

Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, on 6 October 1964, Thomas Michael Jager began swimming at age six and became, alongside training rival Matt Biondi, one of the dominant sprint freestylers of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Swimming for UCLA, he won multiple NCAA titles and set American records before establishing himself internationally. Jager set the 50m freestyle world record on six occasions between 1985 and 1990, lowering it from 22.40 to 21.81 seconds, a mark that stood for over ten years until Alexander Popov broke it in 2000. He won the first two 50m freestyle World Championship titles, in 1986 and 1991, and took Pan Pacific gold in the event in 1989 and 1991. Across the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics, Jager won seven medals: five golds, all in relay events (4x100m freestyle in 1984, 1988 and 1992, and 4x100m medley in 1984 and 1988), plus an individual silver in the 50m freestyle in 1988 and bronze in 1992. He is one of only a small number of swimmers to win gold medals across three separate Olympic Games. Jager's rivalry with Matt Biondi produced some of the era's most celebrated sprint races, including a famous 1989 showdown in which both swimmers broke 22 seconds for the first time in the same session. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2001.

Explosive sprint freestyle specialist known for a lightning-fast start

One of the pioneering figures who legitimised the 50m freestyle as a major international event