Wake Forest Athletics
5 Questions with Hunter Kemper
12/23/2019 2:35:00 PM | Track and Field, Les Johns
“I loved everything about Wake. I fell in love with the campus when I first set foot on it." - Four-time Olympian Hunter Kemper
Wake Forest Hall of Famer Hunter Kemper was named Triathlete of the Year five times by the United States Olympic Committee and USOC Sportsman of the Year in 2005.
Kemper competed in four Olympic games, in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012, and is a seven-time US Elite National Champion.
Deacon Sports Xtra recently caught up with Kemper for this Q&A:
What is the most important skill needed to be a successful triathlete?
Kemper: "I would say the ability to overcome adversity. For a triathlon, it requires a lot of self discipline. It requires a lot of hard work and intensity to get to the highest level. The ability for me to day-in and day-out navigate against the best in the world is a huge challenge. I feel like I was good at perfecting the little things, seeing what my weaknesses were and turning them into strengths. I would say the ability to work hard and have self-discipline."
What possessed you to enter his first triathlon at the age of 10?
Kemper: "I grew up swimming, but doing all sports — baseball, tennis, soccer and swimming. I was pretty good at swimming, and I started at six. A couple friends who were brothers invited me to do this triathlon in Clermont, Florida. I thought that sounded like fun. I went out there and did it. It was a 100 yard swim in a lake, which was like a walk-swim, it wasn't a true swim. Then it was 3.1 miles on a bike, and then a half-mile run. I won it and was the best 10-year old. I did it in 17 minutes. I beat two other kids in my age division, so I was the best of three. The entire age group made the podium, and I was on top. But I woke up the next day and my name was in the paper. I just fell in love with it. This was back in 1986. I went on to the national championships, which was at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. I won the national championships. There were nine kids racing. But I was getting better. When you're 10-years old, you don't realize what a small pond triathlon is. You're just not aware. I just knew I was the best triathlete in the country, and that confidence fueled me to keep on winning national titles in a sport no other kids was really doing. I walked on at Wake Forest."
What did you learn most while at Wake Forest?
Kemper: "I loved everything about Wake. I fell in love with the campus when I first set foot on it. I loved the people and the kids who were going to school there. There was no entitlement at the school. Everyone had to work hard for what they got. I was in the business school and it was not easy. I graduated with a 3.47 GPA. I worked really hard. They would give out Cs and Ds in a heartbeat. There was no grade inflation. Whatever you got there is what you earned, on and off the playing field. I just loved being around better people than myself. I feel the only way you can grow in any job you do is to be around others who can push you. I felt like in the classroom that was the case. I was around smarter people who would push me. My professors pushed me. And in the world of sports, in cross country and track, I only got better when I was around people who were better than me. I loved my four years there. I'm a proud Deacon, for sure."
Do you still own any boxes of Wheaties with your picture?
Kemper: "I'm sure my mom could probably find a couple boxes. I was on a few. My favorite one was on Wheaties Steel, it was a new cereal that came out in 2009. They announced it on 9/9/09. I was on there along with Bryan Clay, Peyton Manning, Kevin Garnett and Albert Pujols. General Mills told that Peyton, Pujols and Garnett would sell the cereal, and I was there as the 'everyday guy.' They told me I was relatable. 'What do you mean I'm relatable? I run a four-minute mile. I shave my legs for a living. I'm not relatable.' They said there are a lot of people doing my sport just trying to stay in shape and get healthy. I took it as a compliment, and if you look at the box, I'm at the very edge. I'm barely on there. I was still happy to be a part of it."
What was your most memorable Olympic experience?
Kemper: "I would say two. The very original games where our triathlon was in the Olympics for the first time in 2000. I was part of that very first Olympic team. It was a feature sport. I think the idea of having the transition area right there in front of the Opera House and swimming in Sydney Harbor with half a million people watching — it was such a surreal experience at the age of 24. That was something special that I will never forget.
"Then in 2012 going back to my fourth Olympic games and not sure that I would make it back. My parents, my wife and my oldest kid, who was five at the time, were in the stands to see me compete. A lot of professional athletes want to be able to play long enough so that their kids can see them compete in what they love to do. I felt like my oldest got to do that in London.
