Jernej Godec (born January 16, 1986 in Ljubljana) is a freestyle and butterfly swimmer from Slovenia, who competed for his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Member of the Ilirija Swimming Club from Ljubljana, Slovenia; his former coaches include Aleš Cerkovnik and Borut Klinec but in 2004 moved to the USA as a student-athlete majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology and competing for the University of California, Berkeley. After training with coach Mike Bottom for several years he continued under the current Cal Golden Bears swimming team head coach Dave Durden. He moved to Boston, MA to continue pursuing a doctoral degree in Immunology at Harvard University, which he completed in 2016. Jernej now lives in New York City, NY.
Godec currently holds the Slovenian national records in 50 m freestyle (22.19) and 50 m butterfly (23.20) in long course (50 m) swimming pools as well as 50 meter butterfly (22.47), 50 meter freestyle (21.18), and 50 meter backstroke (23.53) in short course (25 m) pools and still holds numerous national records in different age group categories. With these times, he is currently ranked as 15th in 50m butterfly (long course meters pool) and 9th in 50m butterfly, 17th in 50m freestyle, 21st in 50m backstroke (short course meters pool) on the FINA all-time world rankings. He is married to a dermatologist in Winchester.
Achievements
2003: European Junior Championships — 3rd, 100 m freestyle; 5th, 200 m freestyle World Aquatics Championships — 10th, 4×100 m medley relay 2004: Olympic Games, Athens — 14th, 4×100 m medley relay 2005: World Aquatics Championships — 19th, 50 m butterfly; 25th, 50 m freestyle; 12th, 4×100 m freestyle relay; final, 4×100 m medley relay (dq) Mediterranean Games — 3rd, 50 m freestyle 2006: European LC Championships — 9th, 50 m butterfly; 11th, 50 m freestyle; 14th, 100 m butterfly 2007: World Aquatics Championships — 14th, 50 m freestyle; 14th, 50 m butterfly 2008: Olympic Games, Beijing — 18th, 50 m freestyle World Short Course Swimming Championships — 7th, 50 m freestyle; 12th, 50 m butterfly 2009: World Aquatics Championships — 12th, 50 m butterfly World University Games — 1st, 50 m butterfly CISM World Military Championships — 1st, 50 m butterfly (CISM Record); 1st, 50 m freestyle; 2nd, 100 m freestyle European Short Course Swimming Championships — 4th, 50 m butterfly; 10th, 50 m freestyle; 10th, 4x50m medley relay: 12th 50m backstroke
