RIO de JANIERO, Brazil – Robert Griswold (Freehold, NJ) swam in his final two events at the Paralympics Saturday, competing in the SM8 200m individual medley and swimming the backstroke leg of the 4x100m medley relay for Team USA. Griswold finished fourth in the individual medley and Team USA came in sixth in the medley relay.
Griswold's day began when he qualified third in the individual medley with a time of 2:28.32. In the final, he posted a time of 2:26.99. The event was won by Britain's Oliver Hynd who clocked in at 2:20.01, a new world record, with Maodang Song and Haijiao Xu of China taking silver and bronze, respectively.
For the medley relay, Griswold was the first one in the water swimming the backstroke. His team finished at 4:25.50, while the People's Republic of China won the event by swimming a 4:06.44. Ukraine won the silver, and Brazil the bronze.
Griswold, who is a sophomore at Carson-Newman, participated in four events at the Paralympics and qualified for the final in all four. He earned a bronze medal in the S8 100m backstroke on Tuesday, the second Paralympic medal won by a C-N student athlete. His time of 1:04.68 stands as a new American record in that event. Griswold also was the top American in all three individual events he swam in.
-CN-