Matt Grevers overcomes injury, age to compete at his seventh U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials

Matt Grevers was settled into life after competitive swimming.

The former Olympian’s focus, at least in terms of the pool, had shifted to being the co-owner of Tucson’s DeMont Family Swim School and a volunteer coach for Arizona swimming.

Yet, the 39-year-old longtime Tucson resident’s world was disrupted a bit when it was announced roughly eight months ago that the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials were going to be held in a football stadium — Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Grevers talked to his buddy and fellow Olympian, Nathan Adrian, and joked that the two of them should compete in the 50-meter freestyle event because it would be “cool” to swim in a football stadium.

Grevers and Adrian are among the most decorated swimmers in U.S. swimming history with more than 30 medals each in international races, including multiple Olympic Games appearances apiece. Adrian focused on the 50 and 100-meter freestyle races over the years; Grevers’ sweet spot was the backstroke and the 100 meters.

While Adrian ended up passing up on the 50 this go-round, Grevers decided to go all in on training to make the U.S. swimming trial-qualifying standard (22.79).

Just a few weeks ago, Grevers swam a 22.50 in an age group time trial at the Ford Southwest Classic at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center on UA’s campus.

Grevers is one of the oldest competitors at the trials this week — a feat made even more remarkable when considering that he was sidelines with a shoulder in jury for nearly three years and wasn’t even swimming recreationally prior to starting this quest around the beginning of the year.

“I couldn’t do backstroke. It was just too painful,” he said. “That kind of extension, and the way I swim my backstroke, it’s very leveraged where there’s a lot of pressure on my (shoulder) socket.

That made the 50 freestyle the “right choice” for Grevers’ attempt this year.

“It was fun to try to make the cut, but it’s also fun to see what a focus on a 50 freestyle would look like. Rick (DeMont, Grevers’ longtime coach and former UA swim coach) was excited about that, too,” Grevers added. “We just worked on my backstroke at the end of my career. We knew that was my sweet spot but it was it was going to be interesting to see what I could do at this age with a little more sprint focus. And it worked.”

The heats for the 50 free at the U.S. Olympic Trials are set for 11 a.m. local time in Indianapolis on Thursday (8 a.m. for those watching in Arizona). The race can be viewed via NBC’s Peacock paid streaming service.

Grevers had a cortisone shot for the shoulder injury and did rehab. It took quite a while, but the pain finally went away, and he was able to swim again. In the meantime, the 6-8 swimmer spent a lot of time in the gym doing shoulder exercises and getting stronger. He weighed up to 270 at one point, which he said was all muscle. Now, he is racing at a leaner 250 pounds.

As an elite swimmer for 20 years, he won four NCAA titles and was a 27-time All-American at Northwestern. He competed at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, winning gold and silver in the 100-meter backstroke, two golds in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a gold and silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay.

He just missed out on making the U.S. Olympic team in 2016, finishing third in the backstroke.

Making it back to the trials for the seventh time has taken on even more meaning. He is now the father of three children, all under the age of 10 years old — he is married to former Arizona Wildcat swimming standout Annie Chandler.

Qualifying day was special. From the cheers in the stands and feeling the energy of the crowd to touching the wall and realizing he gets to “swim in a football stadium (and) see all my friends in that community again,” to having his children watch him doing what he loves to do.

Afterward, as he was signing autographs, he said his daughters were like, “Whoa, all these people think my dad’s pretty cool.”

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“Having your girls see that you’re important in that public setting is so fun,” Grevers said. “My 4-year-old, I think she was probably in the background of like 20 photos, just staring and so curious what was going on, but really enjoying it, too. A little pride in their daddy.”

Relying on friends

It was also extra special for Grevers to do this with and for his longtime coach, DeMont. He said without DeMont by his side, he wouldn’t have been able to go as fast as he did.

In a pivotal moment, when Grevers didn’t know if he could make it — he just couldn’t get close enough to the 22.79 qualifying time — DeMont had this advice for him: “You’ve got to stop going fast all the time. Just swim easy. And just do it (swim) twice a week, this week.”

Grevers said they were the right words at the right time and “Sure enough, I dropped a ton of time.”

DeMont guided him as he changed everything in his approach from what he had done in the past — from his stroke to his breathing (or not, as is the case of the 50) and his yardage.

He used to swim a lot of yardage, but now it was more of a concentrated focus, “making sure it’s perfect stroke or perfect drills. Very powerful.”

Grevers watched some of the fastest swimmers on YouTube. He also got some help from his friends. Adrian gave him tips to get his kick deeper, former UA standout Brand Tandy talked to him about his start and Jesse Stipek was in the pool with him as he trained at the UA Rec Center. Stipek a former UA assistant, coached Grevers in the past.

Grevers training shifted, as well. He didn’t have set times to train. Some days it was in the morning, others it was at night and some days he didn’t swim at all.

Just like old times

After so many years of swimming at such an elite level, then taking a hiatus, once Grevers got back in the water, it was like he never left. He thinks this has to do with “residual training” or what some have called “satellite cells.”

“Once your body knows how to do something, once it can get to it again, it’s easier and quicker,” Grevers said. “… Your body knows how to do it. It remembers and has that kind of muscular development.”

Even though Grevers has reached his goal — making it to the U.S. Olympic Trials — he said that as an elite athlete “You can’t help envisioning yourself making it further and further.”

Still, there is no pressure on Grevers, and he’s just there to have fun.

“One of the main reasons I wanted to make it was just to watch Olympic dreams come true and just watch the very high-pressure meet, very electric atmosphere,” Grevers said. “I’m going to be very present in the moment. I think that being present just absorbing and enjoying it is only going to give you energy. …

“Just getting back into those old routines that that I used to do for so long, is so fun. I get goosebumps when I do it, just remembering being at the top of my game or my body back in its younger form. That’s actually probably maybe the most fun thing about this is just that preparation or even warm up and taking a pre-workout drink and just feeling the anticipation of the performance of the race.”