TOKYO, Japan - Former Carson-Newman men's swimming athlete Robert Griswold can now call himself a World Record holder and gold medalist after winning the men's 100m backstroke S8 at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Griswold, now 24, won the event in the S8 classification, which includes athletes with cerebral palsy and challenges involving a range of motion and limb strength. He came out on top with a WR-time of 1:02.55, which was almost five seconds faster than silver medalist Inigo Llopis Sanz of Spain.
"I honestly wasn't thinking 1:02.5," he told interviewers afterward. "I hit the wall (at the 50-meter mark), saw that I was out in 30-something, and I said, 'you know what, let's just go for it.' I went with it, and I touched the wall, and I just screamed in joy because I was just so happy to get it done and do the best for my country."
In his last time competing at the Paralympic Games in 2016, Griswold was awarded a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke before tallying three gold medals at the world championships in 2017 and 2019. Not only does Griswold hold the new world record, but during the Paralympic trials in June, he claimed the American record in the event with a time of 1:03.29.
"It feels amazing," Griswold said. "I've worked for five years. I remember this record took a big jump down in Rio, and I was in that race. Woke up the next day, and I said, 'how can I get down to 1:02.90?' And I've been thinking that, and through that process I figured out that if I just got a little bit better and a little bit better every day...one day everything clicked together."
As an Eagle under the direction of coach Jordan Taylor, Griswold broke eight Paralympic American records in the S8 class during the 2016-17 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships. At the same event, the Freehold, N.J. native broke the American records in the 50 fly, 100 fly, 200 fly, 50 free, 200 free, 50 back, and 200 back. In his first year as an Eagle, Griswold collected three top-five times in the 1000 and 1650 free along with the 200 back.
After leaving Mossy Creek, he became a member of the U.S. Paralympic National Team. He is the world record holder in the 200 LC Backstroke and holds the American and Pan American records in the 200 I.M., and owns the American record in the 400 Free.
