By Rich Chrampanis
Patience is a requirement for a distance swimmer. When you compound it with four years of training for the ultimate race and that event falling on the final of the 8-day Olympic swim schedule, it’s safe to say Connor Jaeger couldn’t wait to get in the pool in Rio to swim the 1500 meter freestyle.
“I got to wait around for seven days until I could race again and basically watched Team USA swim out of their minds,” Jaeger said.
At the start of the Olympic swim competition, Jaeger reached the finals of the 400 meter freestyle, finishing in 5th place and for the second time in his career, he was just short of an Olympic medal. At the 2012 London Olympic games, Jaeger was a 6th place finisher in the 1500 meter freestyle. He qualified for the finals of the 2016 Olympic 1500 meter freestyle final with the second fastest time.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri was the favorite in the 1500 and set a world record pace early in the race. Watching him create a huge gap on the rest of the field could have been discouraging to Jaeger, but the 2010 graduate of Rumson-Fair Haven High kept to his game plan. While Paltrieni left everyone in the dust, Jaeger assumed the second position early in the race and slowly but surely began to distance himself from the other six swimmers chasing a medal.
“At a certain point, he just took off and I thought I could hang with him. But I couldn’t,” Jaeger said. “And then you have to hope, ‘man, I hope he’s going fast because otherwise I’m really going pretty slow’.
Jaeger was not going slow, quite the contrary. Paltrieni’s gold medal winning performance was the second fastest time in the history of the event and when Jaeger touched the wall second, he was the fifth fastest in history with a time of 14:39.48, which is the new American record.
Team USA’s dominance in the pool is well documented to say the least thanks to mind boggling performances by Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, but if there was a weak spot in the US program, it was in the distance events. Jaeger’s silver medal effort was the first United States medal in the 1500 meter freestyle in 12 years. On a night when the US closed out its record setting Olympic swim medal total with wins in the 4X100 individual medley relays with gold medals for both the men and women, Jaeger’s silver was another chapter in an amazing American effort.
“I knew that I had an opportunity to contribute to that and help it be a record-breaking Olympics. So if the two relays got it done then I had to do something. So to add to that is awesome.”
Connor has spent the last six years training at the University of Michigan, where he was an All-American for the Maize and Blue. It appears that Jaeger is on his way back East as he told the Detroit Free Press that his Olympic career is likely over and that he’ll pursue a career in real estate development in New York City.
It’s understandable why so many people get caught up in the Olympics, even if you’re not a die hard sports fan. The sacrifice and dedication to even get the chance to compete is massive, which is why those who get on the medal stand are always overcome with emotion. Hours after winning his silver medal, summed up his emotion with a post on his Instagram feed.
“This silver medal is nothing but a pebble found on the mountain that is the history of United States Olympic success,” Jager posted. “I feel so blessed to have contributed to what was one of the greatest Olympic team performances of all time. I still can’t believe I’m coming home with a silver.”
