Matt Grevers (USA) Wins 100m Backstroke Gold - London 2012 Olympics

The USA’s Matthew Grevers sets a new Olympic record of as he wins the men’s 100m backstroke event at the London 2012 Olympic Games (30 July). Grevers compatriot Nick Thoman won silver in the event with Japan’s Ryosuke Irie winning the bronze. Subscribe to the Olympics here & hit the bell! 🔔 Swimming has featured on the programme of all editions of the Games since 1896. The very first Olympic events were freestyle (crawl) or breaststroke. Backstroke was added in 1904. In the 1940s, breaststrokers discovered that they could go faster by bringing both arms forward over their heads. This practice was immediately forbidden in breaststroke, but gave birth to butterfly, whose first official appearance was at the 1956 Games in Melbourne. This style is now one of the four strokes used in competition. Women’s swimming became Olympic in 1912 at the Stockholm Games. Since then, it has been part of every edition of the Games.