Northwestern University Athletics
Matt Grevers Qualifies for 2008 Olympic Games
7/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
July 1, 2008
U.S. Olympic Trials 100m Backstroke Finals Results (PDF Format) 
OMAHA, Neb. -- Matt Grevers earned the right to be called Big Ten Champion, NCAA Champion and NCAA record-holder during his time as a Wildcat. Tuesday night at the U.S. Olympic Trials, he earned another title: Olympian.
The 2007 Northwestern graduate upset a pair of heavily favored opponents in the finals of the 100-meter backstroke to finish second in the race and punch his ticket to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. Grevers' time of 53.19 was behind Aaron Peirsol's world-record effort of 52.89 in the heat, and just .21 of a second off the previous world-record time -- also held by Peirsol. Each country at the Games is allowed two entrants per event.
Grevers, who will be among the 100 free favorites beginning tomorrow, now is in the medal equation for China, having held off Ryan Lochte for the second spot. Lochte, who was heavily favored to win the second U.S. berth in the event along with Peirsol, scratched the 200 free Tuesday to focus on the 100 back before taking third place in 53.37.
"I made it," Grevers said. "My parents are crying out there. I haven't touched backstroke all year, I guess (training) for freestyle helped my backstroke. Arizona paid off for me. I had bad vision. I looked at the board and said, `Is that real?'"
Grevers also finished ahead of Randall Bal, who had finished first in both the preliminary and semifinal rounds.
Grevers previously beat Lochte in the 100-yard backstroke to win the 2005 NCAA Championship, the first of two-straight national titles in the event for the former Wildcat. He won the 200-yard backstroke title as a senior in 2007. During his training in Tucson, Ariz., for the Olympic Trials, Grevers had for the most part abandoned his signature stroke to focus on the sprint freestyle events.
Even the event's premier swimmer Peirsol was impressed by the heat and the competition: "That was the best race I've ever been in," he said. "Better than the Olympics."
Information from SwimmingWorldMagazine.com was used in this release.
