Hunter Craig Kemper (born May 4, 1976) is a

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He won the silver medal at the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

, behind Venezuela's Gilberto González, followed by winning gold four years later at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

. Kemper was on four U.S.

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

teams as a triathlete, competing at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012.

College

He attended

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he was a 4-year member of the Men's Cross Country and Track & Field teams. Kemper graduated in 1998 with a degree in Business Administration.

Triathlete career

Kemper competed at the first Olympic triathlon at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He took seventeenth place with a total time of 1:50:05.56. Four years later, at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Kemper competed again. He moved up to ninth place with a time of 1:52:46.33 on the more rigorous course. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, he finished in seventh place with a time of 1:49:48.75. At the ITU San Diego Triathlon in 2012, he placed fifth with a time of 1:49:18 qualifying him for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for the USA Olympic team. He placed fourteenth in those games to lead the U.S. triathlon team. Kemper is one of only two American male triathletes ever to be ranked world #1 by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) (American Mark Fretta also held the world #1 rank for 4 months in 2006). In July 2006, he won the

Life Time Fitness Triathlon The Life Time Triathlon Series is a set of Olympic Distance triathlon races held annually in the United States and organized by Life Time Fitness. The series began as a single race, the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, in 2002 in Minneapolis, Minnesot ...

in Minneapolis, MN, winning what was at the time the largest purse in professional triathlon competition.

References

Profile
American male triathletes Triathletes at the 1999 Pan American Games Triathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2003 Pan American Games Triathletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics 1976 births Living people American people of German descent Lake Brantley High School alumni Wake Forest University alumni Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Olympic triathletes for the United States Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in triathlon Triathletes at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 20th-century American people 21st-century American people {{US-triathlon-bio-stub