Robert Griswold (born November 27, 1996) is an American

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 ...

. He was a member of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Teams. He holds multiple American and world paralympic swimming records in

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'', ...

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 ...

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

, and individual medleys. He competes in the

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

classes S8/SB7/SM8, and has

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

that affects coordination and strength. The United States Center for SafeSport temporarily suspended Griswold in 2020, reinstated him prior to the 2021 Paralympic Games, and then temporarily suspended him again in 2022, after he was accused of raping a fellow member of the US Paralympic Team at the 2021 Paralympic Games and thereafter; Griswold was later removed as a member of the US National Team.Jenny Vrentas (November 14, 2022)
"An American Paralympian Says He Was Sexually Abused by a Teammate; Parker Egbert, 19, said in a lawsuit that he was repeatedly assaulted by a fellow swimmer at the Tokyo Paralympics and a training center in Colorado."
''The New York Times''.

Early life

Griswold was born in

Hickory, North Carolina Hickory is a city in western North Carolina primarily located in Catawba County, North Carolina, Catawba County. The List of municipalities in North Carolina, 25th most populous city in the state, it is located approximately northwest of Charlot ...

, lived in

Freehold Borough, New Jersey Freehold is a borough in and the county seat of Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey., National Association of Counties. Accessed January 21, 2013. Known for its Victorian era homes and extensive colonial history, the borough is l ...

, and now lives in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

. Raised in

Freehold Township, New Jersey Freehold Township is a township in western Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Crisscrossed by several major highways, the township is a commercial hub for Central New Jersey (home to the Freehold Raceway and Freehold Raceway M ...

, he began swimming at the age of six at the

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the southernmost county in the New York metropolitan area. The county borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and in terms of total area is the state's largest county. Its co ...

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. He competed for his high school swimming team, and was team captain and MVP. Outside of athletics, he earned an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

rank in the Scouts BSA program of the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

, and organized a Paralympic Swimming Clinic to educate the community about disabilities and available opportunities. He graduated from Freehold Township High School in 2015.

Collegiate swimming career

Griswold competed for two

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

schools, Carson-Newman University in Tennessee and

Fresno Pacific University Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is a private Christian university in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded as the Pacific Bible Institute in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. ...

in California during his NCAA swimming career that began fall 2015. He also competed for

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

, where graduated from in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in communications. After college he began clerking at a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri.

International swimming career

Griswold competed at his first international meet in 2014, and rose to prominence within the S8 classification initially gaining success in the distance

events, winning his first world championships bronze in 2015. He followed up his World Championships medals by qualifying for the

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

and winning a bronze medal in the 100 m backstroke. He also placed fourth in the 200 m individual medley and fifth in the 400 m freestyle. In 2016 began an era of dominance in the S8 100m backstroke, winning the event at the 2017 World Championships and 2019 World Championships. He carried his success into the

2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

by winning the gold medal by 4.27 seconds and breaking the world record. At the 2017 World Championships he was the most decorated American male, with two gold medals and two silver medals and was honored by being chosen as the flagbearer at the opening ceremonies. In addition to his gold medal in the 100m backstroke, Griswold won a gold medal in the 100m butterfly at the

. He placed fourth in the 200 m individual medley and fifth in the 400 m freestyle. At the

2022 World Para Swimming Championships The 2022 World Para Swimming Championships was the 11th edition of the World Para Swimming Championships, an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Madeira from 12 to 18 June. The competition was origin ...

, Griswold claimed his third consecutive title in the 100 m backstroke S8. He also claimed world titles in the 100 m butterfly and 200 m individual medley. Griswold won silver medals in the 100 m freestyle and the 4x100 freestyle relay 34pts and a bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle.

Sexual assault allegations and lawsuit

In September 2020, the United States Center for SafeSport listed Griswold in its disciplinary database as having temporary restrictions for allegations of misconduct (which could cover a range of degrees of physical, emotional or sexual abuse). One month later, SafeSport confirmed that Griswold was eligible to compete at the Paralympic Games. SafeSport's public disciplinary database indicated that Griswold was temporarily suspended on August 23, 2022, for allegations of misconduct in violation of the SafeSport Code, prohibiting him from practicing or competing at any event or facility under the U.S.O.P.C. or a national sports governing body while he was being investigated by SafeSport. On October 20, 2022, ''SwimSwam'' detailed allegations of sexual assault against Griswold. He has been accused of repeatedly raping and sexually abusing Parker Egbert, a fellow member of the United States Paralympic Team, at the Paralympic Games and thereafter, including in the room that SafeSport allowed Griswold to share with the claimant at the Paralympic Games in 2021. Egbert, who is

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

and has

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

, and has the

mental capacity Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ...

of a 5-year-old according to court filings, says that he was groomed by Griswold, and threatened with retaliation. Griswold was later removed as a member of the 2022 USA National Team. Egbert filed a civil lawsuit on November 11, 2022, against Griswold, the U.S. Center for SafeSport (for negligence, claiming SafeSport failed to protect Egbert from Griswold, despite previous complaints of sexual assault by Griswold having been made to SafeSport in 2020), and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in federal court in Colorado."Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial"
''Egbert vs. Griswold et al'', US District Court of Colorado, November 11, 2022. The complaint alleged: "Remarkably, Defendant USOPC and Defendant U.S. Center for SafeSport ("SafeSport") allowed Griswold to supervise and share a bedroom with Plaintiff without any oversight, despite the fact that USOPC and SafeSport had received reports that Griswold was sexually assaulting other teammates," that "USOPC and SafeSport failed to inform Plaintiff's parents of the risks to their son due to his intimate and continuing proximity to Griswold, a known (or at the very least, suspected) sexual predator," and that "since its creation, SafeSport has faced significant scrutiny for its botched handling of abuse claims." According to the complaint, the accuser suffered injuries that required rectal surgery.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Griswold, Robert 1996 births Living people Paralympic swimmers for the United States American male backstroke swimmers American male butterfly swimmers American male freestyle swimmers Carson–Newman Eagles College men's swimmers in the United States Freehold Township High School alumni Fresno Pacific University alumni Indiana State Sycamores athletes Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic gold medalists for the United States Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Sportspeople from Freehold Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Hickory, North Carolina Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics People from Freehold Borough, New Jersey Sportspeople from Colorado Springs, Colorado Swimmers from New Jersey Swimmers from North Carolina S8-classified para swimmers 21st-century American sportsmen