Kyle Atras '11, a four-year letterwinner for the Hood College swim team and recent graduate, won two silver medals at the 2011 World Transplant Games in Göteborg, Sweden last month.

Atras, a native of Willow Grove, Pa., near Philadelphia, received a heart transplant when he was eight-and-a-half months old. Please click here to read more about Atras' heroic story.

"The whole city of Göteborg was very aware of the Games," said Atras, who was competing in his third World Transplant Games. "I had one man stop me in the mall to ask about the Games and to tell me about the city. That was nice for me because I learned the pool we were using for the competition was used for the Swedish Swimming Championships the month before and lots of records were broken. It was a very fast pool, which I was glad to hear."

Atras competed in the 18-29-year-old division and finished second in the 100-meter backstroke in a time of 1:30.02. He also anchored the second-place 4x50-meter medley relay squad, which logged a time of 2:39.35.

Atras represented the United States in four other swimming events as well; he anchored the 4x50-meter freestyle relay which placed sixth of 10 teams (2:13.88), took fourth in the 50-meter butterfly (36.66) and finished fifth in both the 400-meter freestyle (6:23.31) and the 200-meter freestyle (2:50.30).

"The competition was very similar from my previous two games in Bangkok and Australia," said Atras. "The cool thing is I have seen many of the guys I swim against each Games so now we talk about what we're doing and will cheer and encourage each other, while in seperate events of course."

Not only did Atras showcase his talents in the pool, he also participated in the bowling competition. Atras bowled a three-round score of 408, good for fifth place.

The United States placed second of 54 countries with 244 medals (47 gold, 38 silver, 27 bronze). The United Kingdom finished atop the standings with a total of 610 medals.