The 2012 Missouri Grand Prix concluded during the weekend and Olympic silver medalist Matt Grevers ensured that it was a meet to remember.
After winning the 100-meter backstroke and receiving his medal, Grevers called his girlfriend onto the podium with him, knelt down on one knee and proposed. The Mizzou Aquatic Complex burst into cheers as his girlfriend and United States National Team member, Annie Chandler, replied with a resounding yes.
“I asked her father for permission back in the end of November,” Grevers said. “My brother works here at Missouri and since we were both coming here and my parents drove up from Chicago, I figured it would be a perfect opportunity and a unique situation.”
Having met in Arizona four years ago, Chandler said this was the culmination of four years of learning about each other. All smiles, Chandler then described how Grevers became a coach to her in a lot of ways.
“I think we work really well together,” Chandler said. “There’s a group (training in Arizona) and when there’s nobody there to watch me, he’s always there. He’s just supportive of every aspect of my life. To know that he’s going to be there for the long run is a huge burden off my back. Going into (Olympic) trials, we’ve got all the momentum in the world.”
After being swept away by congratulatory family and friends, Chandler had to jump back into the pool and swim almost immediately following the whole scene. She made sure to take off her newest piece of jewelry beforehand.
“That was one of the most thoughtless breastrokes I think I’ve ever swam,” Chandler said. “It felt kind of like a cool-down after what I just went through. When he fell to his knee and I saw the shiny black box, I knew what that thing held and that’s when I kind of went weak in the knees. That was a pretty surreal moment.”
In order for his planned proposal to work, Grevers had to place first in the 100m backstroke and earn a place on top of the medal podium. With nerves making his heart race, he said his brother jokingly pulled him aside to calm him down.
“My brother was laughing at me because he saw how nervous I was,” Grevers said. “He said this is a real time situation for the Olympics. ‘When you’re really nervous, this is what you’re going to feel like so prepare well, and if you swim well here you can swim well anywhere.’”
The newly engaged Grevers upstaged what was, up until then, the biggest headline Saturday in Olympic gold medalist Jason Lezak’s race in the 50-meter freestyle. Lezak was slated to compete against Frederick Bousquet, a French native and member of the 2008 French Olympic relay team. In 2008, Lezak beat the French team to the wall by a mere .08 seconds, earning Michael Phelps his iconic eighth Olympic gold medal.
Lezak placed third in the event with an Olympic time trial qualifying time of 22.75 seconds, but the day belonged to someone else.
When asked what he needed to do in order to top the proposal for Valentine’s Day, Grevers smiled.
“I think I’ve got a freebie on that,” he said, laughing.