Lake Forest honors its Olympic champ

Swimmer Matt Grevers returned to his hometown of Lake Forest with two gold medals and a silver he won at the Beijing Olympics, but he had something else just as precious to him that he received Monday in a visit to Libertyville.

Grevers was the recipient of a resolution honoring his Summer Olympics achievement at Monday night's Lake Forest City Council meeting. He also signed autographs for children, posed for pictures and generally hobnobbed at a reception before the council session.

"Lake Forest has been really good to me. Obviously, growing up in a good environment set me up," said Grevers, whose house had an indoor pool.

Along with the medals that Grevers brought to the council chambers, he posed for a picture and showed off a $120 bicep tattoo of the Olympic rings so fresh there still was a little blood present. He had looked elsewhere for the tattoo but found a Libertyville shop to his liking.

"I shopped around," said Grevers, 23, who now lives in Tucson, Ariz. "I went to some Chicago tattoo shops, walked in and got an estimate. And a couple of places, the needles looked a little dirty and I was like, 'I really don't want to do that.'"

Grevers - who also lived in Gurnee and Grayslake as a youngster - won gold medals in freestyle and medley relays and a silver for the backstroke at the Beijing Olympics. He said he still has good memories of when, as a senior, he led Lake Forest High School to a state championship in swimming in 2003.

Lake Forest Mayor S. Michael Rummel recalled how Grevers was about 12 and substituted for much older boys and performed well in swimming events in Lake Forest. Rummel said he could sense Grevers was special in the pool.

"The only question you ever had was, 'Will Matt be dedicated enough to do it?'" Rummel said.