Jillian Crooks
Jillian Janis Geohagan Crooks (born 27 June 2006) is a Caymanian 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 at the 2020 Summer Olympics, placing 41st in the prelims heats. Career. 2021. 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan, Crooks took 41st-place in the 100 metre freestyle, not advancing to the semifinals with her Cayman Islands national record setting time of 57.32 seconds. 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 her country competed at. 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, which made her one of 86 swimmers to carry the flag for their nation. 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. Foray to the United States. Crooks was born and raised in the Cayman Islands, and following the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021 she temporarily moved to the state of Alaska in the United States when she was just 15 years old to compete scholastically for Homer High School for one season, winning two state titles and setting state records in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle events before leaving to rejoin the Cayman Islands national team for the Junior Pan American Games. Crooks ended up in Homer, Alaska for a  few months, including competing for the high school swim team, because she had a family friend who was a coach there and she 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. She 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 Lydia Jacoby who won breaststroke and individual medley events. Foraying turns to staying . Following her enjoyment competing in the state of Alaska and the United States more generally, Crooks expressed her intent to stay in Alaska for the rest of her high school career, that is to permanently relocate to the United States.