Matthew Grevers (born March 26, 1985) is a former American competition

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who competed in the

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

and

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

events, and is a six-time Olympic medalist. He has won a total of thirty-three medals in major international competition, fourteen gold, twelve silver, and seven bronze spanning the Olympics,

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, and the

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, Grevers won gold medals as a member of the U.S. teams in the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays, and a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke. Four years later, at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he won gold medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 4×100-meter medley relay, and a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Early life and swimming

Born on March 26, 1985, in Lake Forest, Illinois, to Ed and Anja Grevers, a swim coach, he attended Lake Forest High School. One of the younger competitive swimmers in the family, older sister Carolyn swam for the University of Kansas, while older brother Andrew swam for Northern Illinois. Recognized early for his potential at High School meets, he set a national backstroke record at ten. At Lake Forest, he set three Illinois state records and in his Senior year in 2003 made significant contributions to Lake Forest's first Illinois State Team Championship. During his High School years, he competed and trained with Patriot Aquatics Swim Club at Illinois's Stevenson High School under accomplished coach

Lea Maurer Lea Loveless Maurer (born April 1, 1971), née Lea E. Loveless, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former college swimming coach. She represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, w ...

, a 1992 Olympic gold medalist who served as an Assistant Coach at Northwestern, and would later coach at Stanford. Completed in 1996, the club featured one of the first and most modern natatoriums in the state.

Northwestern University

Beginning as a Freshman swimmer with Northwestern University in the fall of 2003, Grevers was a Big 10 Freshman of the Year, and became the first Northwestern Wildcat swimmer since 1958 to capture a national championship when he finished ahead of

Ryan Lochte Ryan Steven Lochte ( ; born August 3, 1984) is an American former competition swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. He is the third-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by total number of medals, behind only Michael Phelps and Kat ...

of Florida in the 100 backstroke at the 2005 NCAA championships. At Northwestern, he was a 27-time All American, and was trained and managed by Coach Bob Groseth. He won three individual NCAA titles during his time at Northwestern, and captured a fourth NCAA national championship with Northwestern's 400 medley relay team in 2007. He repeated as the winner of the NCAA 100 backstroke title in 2006, then captured a first in the 200 backstroke, becoming only the third swimmer in the history of the NCAA history to swim under a time of 1:40 in the event. A 2006 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, he graduated Northwestern with three Big Ten Conference records, 11 Northwestern University records and 10

Norris Aquatics Center Lakefront Athletics and Recreation Complex is a sports and recreation complex on the main campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It contains both facilities for general student body fitness and recreation, as well as facilities ...

pool records.

2008 Olympics

At the

in Beijing, China, Grevers won two gold medals by swimming in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and 4×100-meter medley relay (swimming the backstroke leg) 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-meter backstroke in a time of 53.11-second, 0.57 of a second behind the winner, world record holder

Aaron Peirsol Aaron Wells Peirsol (born July 23, 1983) is an American former competition swimming (sport), swimmer and backstroke specialist who is a former world champion and world record-holder. He is a three-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic Games, Oly ...

2009 World Aquatics

At the

2009 World Aquatics Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships () or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. This was the second time the championships were held in the city after being previously hosted in 1994 World Aq ...

, Grevers was part of the U.S. men's 4×100-meter freestyle relay team who took the gold ahead of Russia and France. Grevers also earned a gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay for his contributions in the heats.

2012 Olympics

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, the qualifying meet for the 2012 Olympics, Grevers qualified for the U.S. Olympic team by finishing first in the 100-meter backstroke and third in the 100-meter freestyle. In the final of the 100-meter backstroke, Grevers recorded the fastest time in a textile suit and won in a time of 52.08 seconds, then the second-best effort of all time and just behind

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

of 51.94. In the 100-meter freestyle, Grevers placed third with a time of 48.55, which ensured him a spot on the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Grevers also competed in the 50-meter freestyle, and placed sixth in the final with a time of 22.09. At the

in London, Grevers won a total of three medals: two golds and one silver. Grevers earned his first medal, a silver, by swimming for the second-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In the final, the American team finished second behind France. Teaming with

Jimmy Feigen James Feigen (born September 26, 1989) is a former American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. He won a gold medal for the 4x100-meter freestyle relay for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Previously, he won a silver medal as a me ...

Ricky Berens Richard Berens (born April 21, 1988) is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and current world record-holder. As a member of the U.S. national team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-mete ...

, and

Jason Lezak Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spanning ...

in the heats, Grevers swam the second leg and recorded a time of 47.59. After leading the heats (52.92) and semi-finals (52.66) of the 100-meter backstroke, Grevers won gold in the final of the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 52.16, bettering

's Olympic record of 52.54 set in 2008 and 0.76 seconds ahead of

Nick Thoman Nicholas Brewer Thoman (born March 6, 1986) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in the backstroke and is an Olympic gold medalist. He has won two world championships as a member of winning United States medley relay teams at the ...

. For Grevers, it was his first individual gold medal. In his final event, the 4×100-meter medley relay, Grevers won gold with

Brendan Hansen Brendan Joseph Hansen (born August 15, 1981) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a former world record-holder in both the 100-meter and 200-meter ...

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

and

Nathan Adrian Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian (born December 7, 1988) is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event. In his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer ...

. Swimming the backstroke leg, Grevers recorded a time of 52.58 seconds, and the U.S. team went on to win with a time of 3:29.35.

2013 World Championships

At the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Grevers achieved a total of two medals: a gold and a silver. On the first night of swimming, Grevers missed the top-eight championship finals roster in the 50-meter butterfly, as he finished his semi-final run with a twelfth-place time in 23.35. The following day, Grevers threw down the event's fastest time of 52.93 to claim the gold medal in the 100 m backstroke, finishing ahead of his teammate David Plummer by nearly two-tenths of a second. On the final night of the meet, Grevers swam his last two finals with only 45 minutes in between. First, he posted a matching time of 24.54 to share the silver medal with France's

Jérémy Stravius Jérémy Stravius (born 14 July 1988) is a French Swimming (sport), swimmer, swimming freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly. Career Stravius appeared on the world stage at the 2009 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Istanbul where he ...

in the 50 m backstroke. Nearly an hour later, Grevers teamed up with

Kevin Cordes Kevin Cordes ( ; born August 13, 1993) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke events. He currently represents the Cali Condors which is part of the International Swimming League. Cordes was a member of the 2016 U.S. ...

, and

for the final in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. During the race, Grevers swam the backstroke leg and touched the wall with a split of 53.02 until his teammate Cordes left the block 0.04 seconds early on the breaststroke leg, smashing the medal chances entirely for the Americans with a disastrous disqualification. He did not make the 2016 Olympics Team as he finished third in the 100m backstroke.

2017 World Championships

At the 2017 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for the 2017 World Championships in swimming, Grevers won the 100-meter backstroke, ahead of the 2016 Olympic champion and 100-meter backstroke world record holder, Ryan Murphy, to qualify the World Championships later that year in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. At the

2017 World Aquatics Championships The 17th FINA World Championships () were held in Budapest, Hungary from 14 to 30 July 2017.

, Grevers placed second behind Xu Jiayu of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

but ahead of

Murphy Murphy is an Irish surname meaning "Sea Warrior". Origins and variants The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), and "Mac Murchaidh"/" Mac Murchadh" (son of "Murchadh") derived ...

in the 100-meter backstroke. He also earned gold medals by swimming in the heats and finals of the US 4x100-meter medley and mixed medley relays, as well as a bronze medal in the non-Olympic 50-meter backstroke. The mixed medley relay had also set a World and Championship record time of 3:38.56 in the finals.

Honors

While at Northwestern, Grevers was a Big 10 Freshman of the Year, and a Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in 2006. He was inducted into the Northwestern University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012, and became a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in October, 2022.

Personal life

Grevers was born in

Lake Forest, Illinois Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and t ...

. As noted previously, he graduated from Lake Forest High School in 2003, and subsequently attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

while swimming for the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

. Both of Grevers's parents are from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Grevers considered representing the Netherlands and even spoke about it with Dutch swimming legend

Pieter van den Hoogenband Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband (; born 14 March 1978) is a Dutch retired swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder. Early life Born in Maastricht, Limburg, he is the son of Cees-Rein van den Hoogenb ...

. Ultimately, he decided to represent the United States. Grevers proposed to his wife, Annie Chandler, at the Missouri Grand Prix on Saturday, February 11, 2012. The couple were married on April 6, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. Annie gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, Skylar Lea Grevers, on November 9, 2016. Grevers announcing the birth of his second child with Annie, made '' Swimming World Biweekly'' as one of two family

lifestyle Lifestyle is the interests, opinions, behaviours, and behavioural orientations of an individual, group, or culture. The term "style of life" () was introduced by Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler in his 1929 book, ''The Case of Miss R.'', w ...

articles printed, the other being the

engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''f ...

Caeleb Dressel Caeleb Remel Dressel (born August 16, 1996) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He won ...

to Meghan Dressel.Serowik, Lauren (December 8, 2019)
"SW Biweekly — Simone Manuel: Collecting Medals and Making a Difference"
''

Swimming World } ''Swimming World'' is a US-based quarterly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'' (kn ...

''. Retrieved November 3, 2021. In December 2019, they had their second daughter together, Barbara Grace. Keith, Braden (December 2, 2019)
"Matt And Annie Grevers Welcomed Child #2 On Sunday"
''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012. History The news organization was founded by Braden Keith, Garrett ...

''. Retrieved September 5, 2022.D'Addona, Dan (June 12, 2021)
"Matt Grevers Soaking in Every Moment of Swimming, Family Success Heading into Sixth Olympic Trials"
''

''. Retrieved September 5, 2022. His youngest child is son Gideon.

Coaching

As of 2024, Annie Chandler Grevers and husband Matt were still living in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

with their three young children. Matt, who continued to train and attended the Olympic trials that year, was an Assistant volunteer coach at the University of Arizona, and worked for the DeMont Family Swim School, where he became a partner and co-owner in 2022 with

Rick DeMont Richard James DeMont (born April 21, 1956) is an American former competition swimming (sport), swimmer, world champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Despite placing first in the 400-meter freestyle at the 1972 Summer Olymp ...

. DeMont, who had coached Grevers at Tucson Ford Aquatics for a decade, had operated the school with his wife Carrie since 2009, and had coached at the University of Arizona from 1987 to 2017. Staying active in the sport, Grevers attended the U.S. Olympic trials for all seven Olympics from 2000 to 2024.Stanley, Logan, "Grevers Gets Ready for 7th US Olympic Swimming Trials", ''The Arizona Republic'', June 11, 2024, pg. B3

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grevers, Matt 1985 births Living people American male backstroke swimmers American male freestyle swimmers American people of Dutch descent Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Northwestern Wildcats men's swimmers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Olympic silver medalists for the United States in swimming Sportspeople from Lake Forest, Illinois Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming World record holders in swimming Summer World University Games medalists in swimming Lake Forest High School (Illinois) alumni FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States FISU World University Games silver medalists for the United States FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade 21st-century American sportsmen Phi Delta Theta members