Jay Litherland

Jay Litherland (born August 24, 1995) is an American competition swimmer. He represents DC Trident, which is part of the International Swimming League. He won the silver medal in the Men's 400 Individual Medley at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 4:10.28. He was a World University Games gold medalist at the 2015 Summer Universiade and a bronze medalist at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. Litherland competed for the University of Georgia in American collegiate swimming.

Litherland and his brothers, Mick and Kevin, were born in Amagasaki, Japan, as triplets. His father, Andrew Litherland, is a chef from New Zealand, and his mother, Chizuko, is from Japan. He grew up speaking Japanese at home. The family settled in Johns Creek, Georgia, and Litherland was named an All-American in swimming while he was a student at Chattahoochee High School. Litherland and his brothers grew up swimming at Dynamo Swim Club in Atlanta, and each attended and competed as swimmers at the University of Georgia.

Litherland received U.S. citizenship in high school. As a triple citizen of Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, he could compete for any of those countries at the Olympics. He initially contacted the New Zealand swimming federation with interest in competing for them at the 2016 Olympics. Still, he had already competed for the U.S. at an international event, meaning he would have required special permission to switch to New Zealand. His brothers decided to participate in the New Zealand Olympic trials instead of the U.S. trials, which left Litherland "kind of bummed that I'm not representing New Zealand with them, but I'm really excited for them." His brothers did not make the New Zealand team, so all three competed in the U.S. trials together.

He is fluent in Japanese.

At the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, Litherland won gold in the 400-meter IM, out-splitting compatriot Josh Prenot by 3 seconds on the freestyle leg to overtake him at 4:12.43.

At the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, Litherland qualified for his first Olympic team by placing second in the 400-meter IM behind his Georgia teammate Chase Kalisz at 4:11.02.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Litherland placed 5th in the 400-meter IM at 4:11.68.

At the 2017 USA Swimming Championships, Litherland placed 2nd in the 400-meter IM at 4:09.31, qualifying him to swim the event at that year's World Championships. He also finished 5th in the 200-meter IM, 9th in the 400-meter freestyle, and 7th in the 200-meter freestyle.