Former Northwestern swimmer Matt Grevers won the silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2008 Summer Olympics on Monday night (Tuesday morning in Beijing).
After setting an Olympic record in his semifinal swim, Grevers finished the finals in 53.11 seconds. He finished second to Aaron Peirsol’s world record time of 52.54 seconds.
Grevers also helped set up the United States’ dramatic 4×100 meter freestyle relay win Sunday. He swam the final leg of the team’s semifinal Saturday, helping the team break the world record that the finals team smashed in its gold medal victory.
Grevers won three national championships while at NU, winning the 100-meter backstroke in back-to-back years in 2004 and 2005. He won the 200 meter backstroke his senior year in 2007. He was NU’s first three-time individual champion since Al Schwarz won his third national championship in 1930.
