Jeter Wins Silver Medal: Is Carmelita Jeter Related To Derek Jeter?

Even though Carmelita Jeter is an Olympic athlete who won a silver medal Saturday, she might never shake the questions about the athlete with whom she shares a last name: superstar New York Yankee Derek Jeter.

During an NBC interview before the London 2012 Olympic Games, Carmelita Jeter said her name is pronounced "Jetter" rather than "Jee-ter," but that she is frequently approached by fans and interviewers who believe it is pronounced the same way as is the name of the shortstop.

For the record, Jeter, as in "Jetter," and Jeter, as in "Jee-ter," are unrelated. However, Carmelita Jeter said her father often corrects people who think the two world-class athletes are siblings.

"All the time," Carmelita Jeter said about the frequency with which people get the pronounciation of her last name mixed up with that of Derek Jeter's last name before comparing it with a tomato versus tomahto situation. "I'm hoping that in 2012 London I'll get my name out there even more and then they'll start calling him Jeter [as in "Jetter]."

On Saturday, the American Carmelita Jeter placed second in the 100-meter sprint won by the Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who successfully defended the gold medal she earned in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. CBS Sports reported that Jeter was picked by many as the favorite to win the event because of her first-place finish in the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Despite not winning the event, Jeter is only the second American woman to medal in the Olympic 100-meter event since the Atlanta games in 1996. Her website brags that she's the "Fastest Woman in the World."

Jeter also won the 2011 World Championships. At that event, Fraser-Pryce placed second, while her countrywoman Veronica Campbell-Brown took third.

Derek Jeter might not be a member of Carmelita Jeter's family, but she does have a brother who's a professional athlete in his own right: As noted by RealGM, Eugene "Pooh" Jeter is a basketball player who spent a season with the NBA's Sacramento Kings before signing with Joventut Badalona, a team in Spain's Liga ACB. Previous to his tenure with the Kings in 2010-2011. Pooh Jeter played in Spain as well as Ukraine.