Spitz, Mark A.
Swimming
b. Feb. 10, 1950, Modesto, CA
Taught by his father, "Swimming isn't everything--winning is," Spitz established himself as one of the greatest swimmers of all time by winning seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics, all in world record times. He had also won two gold medals, a silver, and a bronze in a "disappointing" 1968 Olympic performance.
Spitz spent his early years in Hawaii, where he learned to swim, before his family moved back to California when he was eight. He won his first major title in 1966, the AAU outdoor 100-meter butterfly. In 1967, he repeated in that event and also won the AAU outdoor and indoor 200-meter butterfly events. He took five gold medals at the Pan-American Games that year, setting two world records in the process.
In 1968, Spitz won national outdoor championships in the 100- and 200-meter freestyles and the 100-meter butterfly and was indoor titlist in the 100-yard and 200-meter butterfly events. He brashly predicted that he would win six gold medals at the Mexico City Olympics, but failed to win an individual gold. He was a member of the winning 4 by 100-meter and 4 by 200-meter relay teams, and he also took a silver in the 100-meter butterfly and a bronze in the 100-meter freestyle.
Spitz entered Indiana University in January of 1969. He was the NCAA champion in the 100-yard butterfly four years in a row, 1969 through 1972, and he won the 200- and 500-yard freestyles in 1969, the 200-yard butterfly in 1971 and 1972. He was also the AAU outdoor champion in the 100-meter freestyle and 200-meter butterfly in 1971 and in the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly in 1970 and 1971. Indoors, he won AAU titles in the 100-meter butterfly in 1970, in the 100-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, and 200-meter butterfly in 1972.
The winner of the 1971 Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete, Spitz was named male athlete of the year by the Associated Press after his incredible performance at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
At Munich, he set world records of 51.22 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle, 1:52.78 in the 200-meter freestyle, 54.27 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly, and 2:00.70 in the 200-meter butterfly. He swam the anchor legs on the 4 by 100-meter freestyle and the 4 by 200-meter relay teams, which set world records of 3:26.42 and 7:35.78. Spitz also swam the butterfly leg on the 4 by 100-meter medley relay team, which won in a world record time of 3:48.16.
Spitz posed for a news photograph wearing all seven medals and commented afterward, "The medals weighed a lot. They have heavy, crazy chains. Really, it was hard to stand up straight wearing them all at one time."
He retired from competition immediately after the Olympics and profited from a number of television commercials and appearances during the next couple of years.
In 1992, Spitz came out of retirement in an attempt to make the U. S. Olympic, but he failed and went back into retirement.