Olympic Swimmer Matt Grevers Wins Race to Get Engaged on Podium

Swimmer Matt Grevers proposed to girlfriend Annie Chandler as she presented a medal to him at the Missouri Grand Prix.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on February 13 2012

Matt Grevers has already won two gold medals for swimming in the 2008 Olympic games. But when he participated in the Missouri Grand Prix last weekend, he had something more important than gold on his mind: love.

Grevers was eager to propose to longtime girlfriend Annie Chandler, a fellow national team swimmer. And he wanted to come up with a creative, romantic way to do it. But in order to go through with the proposal of his dreams, he needed to come in first place in his backstroke race.

His plan motivated him to swim as fast as he possibly could, and, true to his goal, he won the race. Then, Grevers climbed to the top of the podium to accept his medal—he’d arranged for Chandler to present the medals to the three winners.

When Grevers bowed down to accept his award, he kept bowing down—all the way to one knee. Chandler, surprised and delighted, said yes to the unique proposal.

“I’ve just been searching for a unique way to pop the question,” Grevers told reporters. “My whole family is here and I figured it would be a perfect opportunity and a unique situation.”

Grevers hopes that this summer, the engaged couple will be on another podium together—at the Olympic Games in London.

Check out the sweet video of Grevers’ proposal.