Signature: Jayme Oliver Cramer

Age: 25

Hometown: Cincinnati

Title: World champion gold medal swimmer, 2008 Olympic hopeful

To put it in football terms more people will understand, Jayme Cramer is in the middle of “two-a-days.” Champion swimmers like Michael Phelps and Jason Lezak train in groups under well-known coaches at notable universities, but Cramer is busy preparing for the Olympic Trials alone and in relative secret.

In the fall of 2006 the Stanford graduate married former LSU soccer player and triathlete Kate Ripple. He met her through his team’s strength trainer, Kate’s father, Dr. Steve Ripple.

Ripple owns local USA Swimming club Crawfish Aquatics. With college behind him, Cramer swims in solace every morning and cuts loose with Crawfish’s high school swimmers in the afternoons. This, despite an impressive showing at last summer’s Nationals, makes Cramer something of a dark horse for the Olympic Trials this June 29 to July 6 in Omaha, Neb.

“Everybody else knows what each other is doing, but they don’t have any clue what we’re up to or how hard we’re working down here,” Cramer says. “It’s definitely an advantage.”

At St. Xavier in Cincinnati, Cramer was 2001’s National High School Swimmer of the Year. His lightning-fast times earned him a spot on the powerhouse team at Stanford where he majored in economics and became an All-American and NCAA champion.

At 25, Cramer has put goals like a career and starting a family on hold while head coach Billy Newport oversees his training so he can achieve his dream.

Team USA is the highest achievement in the sport, and no one gets there by wishing. Cramer swims between 4 to 9 miles a day. He must finish in the top two to qualify for individual freestyle and butterfly events.

“I wouldn’t be doing this unless I thought I could go to the Olympics and medal,” Cramer says. “I’m so blessed to have the opportunity to do what I love to do every day. I know there’s so much left in me with swimming, and I’m ready to set out and do those things this summer.”

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