Jack Conger

Jack Conger
Personal information
Full name John Conger
Nationality  United States
Born (1994-09-26) September 26, 1994
Rockville, Maryland
Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Backstroke, freestyle, butterfly
Club Ncap
College team University of Texas at Austin
Coach Sue Chen
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro 4×200 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
2017 Budapest 4x200 m freestyle
Summer Universiade
2013 Kazan 200 m backstroke
2015 Gwangju 4×100 m freestyle
2015 Gwangju 100 m freestyle
2015 Gwangju 4×100 m medley
2013 Kazan 4×100 m medley
2015 Gwangju 100 m backstroke

John "Jack" Conger (born September 26, 1994) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in the backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle.

Swimming career

At the 2012 U.S. Open Swimming Championships in Indianapolis, Conger took silver in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:58.14.[1] At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, Conger missed the U.S. Team by finishing 8th in the 100-meter backstroke and 5th in the 200-meter backstroke with times of 54.63 and 1:58.97, respectively.[2][3] At the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Conger broke the national age-group (NAG) record for the 17-18 age group in the 100-meter backstroke with a winning time of 54.07.[4] He also took home two more golds in the 200-meter backstroke (1:57.20), 50-meter freestyle (22.69), and one bronze in the 100-meter freestyle (49.84).[5][6][7]

At the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Conger, competing as an incoming freshman, won gold in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:55.47, and bronze as a member of the U.S. team in the 4x100-meter medley relay. Conger also competed in the 100-meter butterfly and finished 6th in the final.

Conger accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he swims for coach Eddie Reese's Texas Longhorns men's swimming team.[8] On February 25, 2015, Conger broke the American and US Open record in the 200-yard butterfly. Conger time trialed the event during the 2015 Big 12 Championships.[9]

At the 2015 NCAA Championships, Conger won the silver in the 100 (44.55) and 200 yard butterfly (1:39.74) behind teammate Joseph Schooling. He finished 7th in the 100 yard backstroke, with a time of 45.76. Conger helped the Texas Longhorns in the 400 yard medley relay (swimming the freestyle leg and recording an anchor time of 40.96), the 800 yard freestyle relay on Day 2, and the 400 yard freestyle relay (42.17 as the 2nd leg) on Day 3.

At the 2015 U.S Nationals in San Antonio, Conger competed in the 100 and 200 meter butterfly, the 200 m backstroke, the 100 m freestyle, and the 200 meter freestyle (only in the prelims). Conger finished second to Michael Phelps in both the 100 m and 200 m butterfly, recording times of 51.33 and 1:54.54 respectively. He narrowly missed his personal best in the 100 m freestyle, going 49.05 to miss it by .03. He finished second to Caeleb Dressel in that race. Conger qualified first after prelims in the 200 m freestyle, but withdrew to focus on the 200 butterfly. In the 200 m backstroke, Conger finished in 4th place with a time of 1:58.84.

2016 Summer Olympics

Conger represented the United States in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, having qualified in the U.S. Olympic Trials winning bronze in the 200 meter freestyle. At the Olympics, Conger swam in the heats of the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay and secured qualification for the final with a fast last 50 meter split of 26.83.[10] Although Conger posted the fastest split time of the American team in the heats, he was left off the team that swam the final.[11] The team went on to win the final, also earning Conger a gold medal.

Gas station incident during 2016 Olympics

On the morning of August 14, Conger's teammate Ryan Lochte claimed that he, Conger, Gunnar Bentz, and Jimmy Feigen were robbed after four men forced them out of their taxi at gunpoint.[12] The Brazilian authorities questioned this account, and after Lochte had flown home on August 16, Conger and Bentz were prevented from leaving the country and their passports were seized; this was done in order to have them testify as witnesses of the incident.[13][14] Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro concluded that the athletes were not robbed, but instead had been involved in an incident at a gas station in Barra da Tijuca, west of the city.[15] The investigation found that the swimmers had stopped at a gas station near Casa França, where they were involved in a confrontation with security guards regarding vandalism. Some or all of the swimmers had caused damages to objects in a bathroom while intoxicated.[16][17][18][19]It was claimed that the swimmers had already paid in cash 100 reais ($31) and $20 in U.S. currency as compensation for objects from the bathroom which were damaged, such as a soap holder, a mirror, and a "Please Do Not Enter" sign.[20]

According to anonymous police sources, Conger and Bentz told the police that Lochte's robbery story was fabricated.[21] The Associated Press reported that Conger and Bentz "refuted Lochte's claim that the group was held up by armed assailants".[22] Conger stated the group was confronted by two armed security guards with guns, one "pointed at" Conger.[23]

After Conger returned to the United States, he apologized in a formal statement. He admitted the team had urinated on an alleyway wall, and that Lochte removed a poster from a wall.[23] Fellow swimmer Gunnar Bentz stated the swimmers had returned to the taxi but were ordered out by two armed security men who pointed their guns at them, commanding them to sit on the pavement before an interpreter arrived. Both Conger and Bentz's statements maintained that Lochte ripped a poster and approached the guards, but denied witnessing any damage caused to the bathroom.[24]

Post Rio

At the 2017 NCAA Championships, Conger helped lead the Longhorns to their third-straight team title. He broke the U.S. Open and American Records in the 200 fly individually[25], and was part of three championships relays for Texas.

Personal bests

As of September 10, 2015
Long course
Event Time Meet Date
100 m butterfly 51.33 2015 U.S Nationals August 8, 2015
200 m butterfly 1:54.54 2015 U.S Nationals August 7, 2015
100 m backstroke 54.04 2013 Summer Universiade July 16, 2013
200 m backstroke 1:55.47 2013 Summer Universiade July 15, 2013
50 m freestyle 22.69 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championship August 26, 2012
100 m freestyle 49.02 2015 Summer Universiade July 8, 2015
200 m freestyle 1:45.77 2016 US Olympic Trials June 28, 2016

References

  1. ↑ "2012 U.S. Open Swimming Championships – Men's 100 metre backstroke (final)". Omega time. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) – Men's 200 metre backstroke (final)". Omega Timing.
  3. ↑ "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) – Men's 100 metre backstroke (final)". Omega Timing.
  4. ↑ "2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championship – Men's 100 metre backstroke (final)". Omega Timing. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012.
  5. ↑ "2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championship – Men's 200 metre backstroke (final)". Omega Timing. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012.
  6. ↑ "2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championship – Men's 50 metre freestyle (final)". Omega Timing. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012.
  7. ↑ "2012 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championship – Men's 100 metre freestyle (final)". Omega Timing. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012.
  8. ↑ Swimming World Magazine, High School News, "Jack Conger makes verbal commitment to Texas Longhorns".
  9. ↑ http://swimswam.com/jack-conger-breaks-americanus-open-record-in-200-fly-time-trial-to-open-big-12-championships/
  10. ↑ https://swimswam.com/bio/jack-conger/
  11. ↑ Sutherland, James (August 9, 2016). "Day 4 Relay Lineups: Phelps In, Conger Out On U.S. 800 Free Relay". Swimswam. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  12. ↑ Ruiz, Rebecca R.; Mather, Victor (August 14, 2016). "Ryan Lochte and Three Teammates Robbed at Gunpoint". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  13. ↑ "U.S. swimmers Bentz, Conger leave Rio after robbery scandal; Feigen pays fine". NBC Olympics. August 19, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Two US swimmers in Rio removed from flight home". CNN. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  15. ↑ Romero, Sam (August 18, 2016). "The Police Say Ryan Lochte Lied About Gunpoint Assault". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  16. ↑ Moreira, Gabriela (August 18, 2016). "Polícia conclui que nadadores norte-americanos mentiram sobre assalto". ESPN (in Portuguese). Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Vídeo de posto de gasolina mostra confusão com nadadores americanos". G1 (in Portuguese). August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Polícia diz que houve 'confusão' e não assalto envolvendo nadadores". G1 (in Portuguese). August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  19. ↑ Levine, Sam (August 18, 2016). "Brazilian Sources Say Swimmers Fabricated Rio Robbery Story: Report". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  20. ↑ Rodrigo Viga; Jeb Blout (August 19, 2016). "U.S. says sorry as swimmers leave Brazil to jeers". Reuters. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  21. ↑ Dave Sheinin, Dom Phillips & Joshua Partlow (August 18, 2016). "As Ryan Lochte’s story unravels, three teammates remain detained for questioning". Washington Post.
  22. ↑ http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/rio-2016/ryan-was-very-evasive-how-lochtes-robbery-story-started-to-unravel
  23. 1 2 "Statement From Gold Medal Olympic Swimmer Jack Conger". PR Newswire. August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Swimmer Gunnar Bentz Tells His Story of Rio Gas Station Incident in Statement". Time.com. August 20, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  25. ↑ https://swimswam.com/conger-wins-1st-title-last-race-record-breaking-137-3-200-fly/
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