Aug 12, 2008 11:01 AM
Northwestern's Matt Grevers wins Olympic medal!
Matt Grevers, who graduated from Northwestern in 2007, won a silver medal in the men's 100m backstroke at the Beijing Olympics yesterday, finishing second to teammate Aaron Peirsol. He also earned a gold medal in the now-famous 400m freestyle relay after participating in the preliminary rounds.
You can check out the story in the Chicago Tribune
here.
Grevers was a four-time NCAA champion at NU but after a year training at the University of Arizona after graduation, seemingly came out of nowhere to make the U.S. team. My favorite part of the story is that Grevers' parents are Dutch, which would have qualified him to swim for the weaker Dutch team. But instead of taking the easy way and going for an almost-certain spot with the Dutch, Grevers decided he wanted to swim for the best team in the world and that it would be the U.S.A. or nothing. Turned out to be an excellent decision.
Congratulations to Matt!
