COLUMBIA, Mo. - This was an early Valentine's story that played out in Missouri but was written in Tucson.
For Matt Grevers, a top finish in the 100-meter backstroke Saturday night at the Missouri Grand Prix was a virtual necessity to pull off a surprise medal-stand marriage proposal to his girlfriend and USA national swimming teammate, Annie Chandler.
Grevers upheld his end, earning gold in a time of 53.57 seconds over Adam Mania and Brazilian Thiago Pereira. So did a jubilant and tearful Chandler, thanks to some behind-the-scenes planning by Andy Grevers, an assistant swimming and diving coach at the University of Missouri who sneaked his younger brother the diamond engagement ring.
"I took it out a little fast because my heart was racing the whole time," said Matt Grevers, who won two gold medals in the 2008 Olympics as a preliminary relay swimmer and a silver in the 100 backstroke. "If I didn't get first it wouldn't have worked out so well."
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The couple of four years trains with Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics. Grevers, 26, relocated after winning four NCAA titles at Northwestern. Chandler, 24, is a 2010 University of Arizona graduate seeking to appear in her first Olympics this year in London.
Grevers had hoped to pull off the poolside proposal on Friday, when his girlfriend swam in the 100 breast stroke. Chandler's fifth-place finish scuttled that plan. Grevers said he didn't want to wait any longer.
"She didn't have the best swim. So I was like, 'I got to go do it.' " Grevers said.
Chandler, who had to set aside her celebration after the proposal to swim in the "C" bracket of the 200 breast stroke, remained visibly elated after an otherwise forgettable race.
"That was one of the most thoughtless 200 breast strokes I've ever swam," she said.
The arrival of swimming's newest power couple easily upstaged the action in the pool for cheering spectators and other swimmers alike.
Chandler said she had little inkling that Grevers would propose, even when meet organizers asked her to help present the medals during her boyfriend's event.
"The only part that felt unnatural was when Matt asked me to get on the top (medalists') podium with him," she said. "When he fell to his knee and I saw the shiny black box, I knew. That's when I went weak in the knees and kind of fell down myself."
For Grevers, the hardest part may have been obtaining the blessing of his girlfriend's father, former NFL player Thomas Chandler. Once the elder Chandler approved, Grevers set the wheels in motion.
"I've just been searching for a unique way to pop the question. My whole family is here and I figured it would be a perfect opportunity and a unique situation."
In the short term, Grevers expects he'll get a pass on Tuesday, a day most other couples will be celebrating Valentine's Day.
"I think I got a freebie on that," he said. "Maybe get her 'Lady and the Tramp' or something like that."
On Sunday, Cesar Cielo and Amanda Weir each earned a second gold medal, winning in the 100-meter freestyle one night after taking first in the 50 free.
Cielo, from Brazil, surged past Richard Hortness of Canada after the turn to finish in 49.51 seconds Sunday, nearly half a second ahead of Hortness. Grevers was third.
Weir led throughout to win in 54.41 seconds over Hannah Wilson, who finished in 55.27.
In the men's 200 backstroke, 16-year-old Ryan Murphy of Jacksonville, Fla., outlasted Canadian Tobias Oriwol to win in 1 minute, 59.11 seconds.
Other winners in the meet's final day included Julia Wilkinson of Canada in the women's 200 individual medley; Pereira in the men's 200 IM; Canadian Sinead Russell in the women's 200 backstroke; and 14-year-old Katie Ledecky in the 800 free.
