Matt Grevers

Matt Grevers

Matt Grevers in 2009
Personal information
Full name Matthew Grevers
Nickname(s) Dutch, The Gentle Giant, Nu
Nationality  United States
Born March 26, 1985 (1985-03-26) (age 26)
Lake Forest, Illinois, USA
Height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight 229 pounds (104 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Stroke(s) Freestyle, Backstroke
Club Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics
College team Northwestern University

Matt Grevers (born March 26, 1985 in Lake Forest, Illinois) is a professional American swimmer. He is best known for winning the silver medal in the 100 m backstroke at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.[1]

Contents

Personal life

Grevers attended Lake Forest High School and Northwestern University and swam for the Wildcats. He chose to attend Northwestern over Arizona, Texas, and California.

Both of Grevers' parents are from the Netherlands. Grevers considered representing the Netherlands and even spoke about it with Dutch swimming legend Pieter van den Hoogenband. Ultimately, he decided to represent the United States.[2]

Swimming career

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Grevers won two gold medals by swimming in the preliminary heats of the 4x100 m freestyle relay and 4x100 m medley relay (backstroke), as the Americans went on to win the finals in those events and medals are awarded to participants at any step along the way. Grevers also won an individual silver medal in the 100 m backstroke in a time of 53.11, 0.57 seconds behind the winner, world record holder Aaron Peirsol.[3][4][5]

At the 2009 World Aquatics Championships, Grevers was part of men's 4x100 m freestyle relay team who took Gold ahead of Russia and France.[6] Grevers also earned a gold in the 4x100 m medley relay for his contributions in the heats.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Men's 100m Backstroke – Final
  2. ^ NBC Olympics Matt Grevers profile
  3. ^ Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay – Heat 1
  4. ^ Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay – Heat 2
  5. ^ Recap of 100m backstroke final
  6. ^ KAREN CROUSE (July 27, 2009). "Records Fall, and It’s Only Day 1". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/sports/27swim.html?hpw. Retrieved July 27, 2009. 
  7. ^ ANDREW DAMPF (August 2, 2009). "Phelps to get shot at 5th gold in Rome". The Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gj3qdJWRagA1hCgPnWg49gTIDsrwD99QM9A80. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 
  8. ^ "Four world records set on final day of World Swimming Championships". August 3, 2009. http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2009/08/03/four-world-records-set-on-final-day-of-world-swimming-championships-17184/. Retrieved August 5, 2009. 

External links

Men's Team
Women's Team
Coaches

Jack Bauerle (Women's Head Coach) • Ray Benecki • Bob Bowman • Frank Busch • Sean Hutchison • Teri McKeever • Eddie Reese (Men's Head Coach) • Mark Schubert (National Team Head Coach) • Gregg Troy • Jon Urbanchek • Paul Yetter