“Take your mark.”
A second later, a horn beeps, launching eight swimmers into the water for the most important race of their lives. As the water splashes and waves surge, Frenchman Camille Lacourt surges to the front in the final of the 100 meter backstroke in the 2012 Olympics. In less than half a minute, the swimmers reach the halfway point, disappear underwater, and turn for home.
As the leaders shoot up to the surface from below, a 6’8” giant from Lake Forest, Illinois rises up with his head out ahead of the pack. Powered by his confidence and meticulous stroke, Matt Grevers shoots into the lead. For the swimmers, years upon years of training and commitment has boiled down to just 50 meters. With fans frantically screaming and water slapping, Grevers remains calm and smooth in the water. His lead grows inch by inch until he extends his long arms and touches the wall. He pivots his head around and analyzes the leaderboard. The results flood onto the screen and without any hesitation Grevers lets out a jubilant smile and fist pumps to his family in the bleachers. After 27 years, a childhood dream has come true. Matt Grevers is an individual Olympic gold medalist.
The journey to Olympic gold started before Grevers was born. Both his parents had swimming in their veins, as his mother was a swim coach and his father played water polo. Once they had children, Grevers’ parents knew what their kids were destined to do. Grevers’ older sister and older brother both swam, so once Matt came along he simply had no choice. “The family car was always going to the pool,” recalled Grevers, “so it was either I got in the pool, or I sat in the hot, chlorinated stands.”
Once Grevers began swimming, it was clear he possessed the skills and the frame to be a special swimmer. At age five, a time when most kids haven’t even learned to swim, Grevers was already swimming competitively. By age ten, Grevers was one of the fastest kids in the water and was confident in his abilities to build a special career in the future.
Propelled by an impressive youth career, Grevers began the next phase of his journey as a freshman at Lake Forest High School. Despite being a decorated swimmer for his age, Grevers still struggled, as most freshman do, with his first day of high school. “I walked around school all day with my insecurities, but once I finally got to the pool I felt confident. I said, ‘this is my spot. This is home.’”
During high school, Grevers practiced everyday from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. If he was in swimming season, Grevers would swim in the morning three days a week and then head back into the pool after school to work on his skills yet again. Despite the strenuous hours and constant work, Grevers was motivated by his high school coach and mentor, Lea Mauer, to keep at it. Mauer, the Lake Forest swimming coach from 1995 to 2005, swam at Stanford and won Olympic medals in the 1992 games. “She had done all the things that I wanted to do,” Grevers said, “so listening to her was easy because she proved she was capable of doing it all.” With his trust, Mauer took Grevers under her wing and molded him into a better swimmer and student.
After an uneventful first two years with the varsity team, Grevers and his teammates made a commitment to each other that they would train harder to be more successful in Grevers’ junior year. Led by Grevers and their hard work, Lake Forest qualified for the state finals in 2002. In dramatic form, the state title came down to Naperville Central and Lake Forest with one race making the difference: the 4×100 freestyle relay. If Lake Forest won the race, they would become state champions.
In the final, Grevers was the anchor on the freestyle relay team and began his leg of the race over three seconds behind the leaders. He dove into the water and swam the first 50 yards at a brisk pace. “I didn’t breathe much on the first 50 meters because breathing slows you down,” said Grevers. He took a chance by exchanging stamina for speed, but that choice ended up hurting Grevers and the team. Exhausted from his first 50 meters, Grevers failed to close the gap in the second half of the race, which meant Lake Forest missed out on first place by just .11 seconds.
“I was pissed,” recalled Grevers, “I felt like I let the entire team down. After the race, I wanted nothing to do with the second place medal they gave us.”
Grevers was down on himself for a long time until he realized how his attitude was affecting the team. “I realized that they way one person handles himself can bring the entire team down, but on the other hand, one person also has the ability to bring the team up. To this day, I keep that second place medal with me wherever I go as a reminder of that moment and the way I acted.”
The following year, Grevers and his team made it back to the state finals and won in dominant fashion, giving Lake Forest its first men’s state title in school history.
Following a historic high school career, Grevers moved on to Northwestern University. In his collegiate career, Grevers won multiple national titles and received 27 All-America honors. As one of the rising names in the sport, Grevers qualified for the 2008 United States Olympic team. In the 2008 games in Beijing, he managed to win silver in the 100 meter backstroke along with other medals for his contributions in preliminary races. Four years later at the Olympic games in London, Grevers won an individual gold medal in the 100 meter backstroke, as his journey finally reached its long awaited destination.
The journey to Olympic gold was not always a glamorous one. Grevers battled through the pain on his body and through his muscles during the never ending practices. He dealt with the countless expectations and pressures on him to succeed. And, he gave up multiple social gatherings with friends and family in exchange for time spent working on his swimming career. Despite the pain and the sacrifice, Grevers says he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. “I don’t think there were any sacrifices made. I think the lifestyle I chose was great for me because even if I didn’t accomplish my goals, I was happy.”
This past Friday, Grevers and his family pulled into the Lake Forest High School parking lot, not to watch Matt race, but to watch him be inducted into the school’s Wall of Fame. As the highlight of the day’s events, the senior class funneled into the Raymond Moore Auditorium to watch the induction ceremony. Following Lake Forest principal Dr. Holland’s remarks, Grevers shuffled up to the podium and told stories of his high school career, entertaining the students and the faculty. Later on, joined by his wife Annie Chandler and his baby daughter Skylar, Grevers reflected on his journey from winter meets on Saturday mornings to the Olympics and the biggest stage in the world. While Grevers was appreciative of the event and the people, you could tell he was longing to be somewhere else. That somewhere else, of course, is the pool. Because for Matt Grevers, the pool is home and always will be.
Grevers and his family currently live in Tucson, Arizona, where he continues his swimming career. While he missed out on the 2016 Olympic team by one spot, Grevers is training for and hopes to make the 2020 U.S. Olympic team. Today, when he is not training or competing, Grevers helps out with the Arizona men’s swimming team and his charity, which provides swim lessons to those in need.
