Matt Biondi

Matt Biondi

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Nicholas Biondi
Nickname(s)	"Matt," "The California Condor"
Nationality	United States
Born	(1965-10-08) October 8, 1965 Moraga, California
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight	209 lb (95 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Freestyle, butterfly
College team	University of California, Berkeley
Medal record International aquatics competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 8 2 1 World Championships (LC) 6 2 3 Pan Pacific Games 13 3 2 Summer Universiade 4 0 0 Total 31 7 6 Men's swimming Competitor for the United States Olympic Games Gold 1984 Los Angeles 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 50 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 100 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 4×200 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 4×100 m medley Gold 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m medley Silver 1988 Seoul 100 m butterfly Silver 1992 Barcelona 50 m freestyle Bronze 1988 Seoul 200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 1986 Madrid 100 m freestyle Gold 1986 Madrid 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1986 Madrid 4×100 m medley Gold 1991 Perth 100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Perth 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Perth 4×100 m medley Silver 1986 Madrid 100 m butterfly Silver 1991 Perth 50 m freestyle Bronze 1986 Madrid 50 m freestyle Bronze 1986 Madrid 200 m freestyle Bronze 1986 Madrid 4×200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Games Gold 1985 Tokyo 50 m freestyle Gold 1985 Tokyo 100 m freestyle Gold 1985 Tokyo 4×200 m freestyle Gold 1985 Tokyo 4×100 m medley Gold 1987 Brisbane 100 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 4×100 m medley Gold 1987 Brisbane 4×200 m freestyle Gold 1989 Tokyo 4×100 m medley Gold 1991 Brisbane 100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Brisbane 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Brisbane 4×100 m medley Gold 1991 Brisbane 100 m butterfly Silver 1985 Tokyo 200 m freestyle Silver 1987 Brisbane 50 m freestyle Silver 1991 Brisbane 50 m freestyle Bronze 1985 Tokyo 100 m butterfly Bronze 1987 Brisbane 100 m butterfly Summer Universiade Gold 1985 Kobe 100 m freestyle Gold 1985 Kobe 200 m freestyle Gold 1985 Kobe 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1985 Kobe 4×200 m freestyle

Matthew Nicholas Biondi (born October 8, 1965) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Biondi competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning a total of eleven medals (eight gold, two silver and one bronze). During his career, he set seven individual world records (three in the 50-meter freestyle and four in the 100-meter freestyle).

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Biondi won five gold medals, setting world records in the 50-meter freestyle and three relay events.

Biondi is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.

Early life and athletics

Biondi started his aquatics career as a swimmer and water polo player in his hometown of Moraga, California. As he moved into his teens, his incredible abilities as a sprint swimmer began to emerge. Though he did not start swimming year-round until he started at Campolindo High School, by his senior year Biondi was the top schoolboy sprinter in America with a national high school record of 20.40 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. He accepted a scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley, to swim and play water polo, and enrolled in 1983. In his freshman year, he played on Berkeley's NCAA championship water polo team, and made the consolation finals at the 1984 NCAA Swimming Championships.

Olympic career

1984 Olympics

In the summer of 1984, Biondi surprised the swimming community by qualifying for a spot on the U.S. 4×100 meter freestyle relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The team won the gold medal in a world record time. Upon returning to Berkeley, Biondi once again played on an NCAA Champion water polo team in the fall, and during in the winter of 1985, he won the first of his eight individual swimming titles at the NCAA championships.

Biondi was selected as the NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 1985, 1986, and 1987, and he set several American and NCAA records.

Biondi set the first of his twelve individual swimming world records in 1985. He was the first man to swim the 100-meter freestyle faster than 49 seconds, and by 1988 he owned the ten fastest times swum in that event. He won a total 24 U.S. Championships in the 50, 100, and 200 meter freestyle events, as well as the 100 butterfly. In two World Championships (1986 and 1991), Biondi won 11 medals including six gold. During his career, he was a finalist for the James E. Sullivan Award, the UPI Sportsman of the Year, the U.S. Olympic Committee Sportsman of the Year, and selected twice as the Swimming World magazine Male Swimmer of the World, in 1986 and 1988.

1988 Olympics

Biondi was involved in perhaps one of the oddest defeats of any competitor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the 100 meter butterfly final race, he was caught between strokes as he approached the finishing wall. He chose to glide rather than take another stroke, and Biondi was edged out by Anthony Nesty of Surinam by just 0.01 second.

Biondi still won five gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal in the 1988 Olympics, breaking the world records in four of those victories: three in relay races, and one in the 50 meter freestyle, taking just 22.14 seconds for this swim. This was the third time that he had broken or equalled the existing 50 meter freestyle world record.

Biondi's time in the 100 meter freestyle final was the only swim below 49.00 seconds of the competition, and he set a new Olympic record of 48.63 seconds, the second fastest swim at this distance in history.

1992 Olympics

At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Biondi won two more gold medals in relays and a silver in the 50 meter freestyle.

World Championships

Biondi competed at the World Championships in 1986 and 1991, winning six gold medals.

In 1986, he won three gold medals, one silver and three bronzes to set a record of seven medals at one World Championship meet. (This record has since been matched by Michael Phelps.)

Life outside competitive swimming

Biondi graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy of Industrialized Societies (PEIS).

Biondi married Kirsten Metzger in her home state of Hawaii in 1995. They have three children: their sons Nathaniel (Nate), born in 1998, and Lucas, born in 2002; and their daughter Makena, born in 2007.

Kirsten Biondi persuaded her husband to continue his education, and he earned his master's degree in education in 2000 at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

In recent years, Biondi has worked as a school teacher and swimming coach in Hawaii. As of 2012, he has been hired to teach math and coach at Sierra Canyon School in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Chatsworth.

See also

• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event
• List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men)
• List of University of California, Berkeley alumni
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
• World record progression 50 metres freestyle
• World record progression 100 metres freestyle
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay
• World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay
• World record progression 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay

External links

• Matt Biondi – Olympic athlete profile at Sports-Reference.com
• Matt Biondi (USA) – Honor Swimmer profile at International Swimming Hall of Fame website.

Records
Preceded by Tom Jager Tom Jager	Men's 50-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) June 26, 1986 – August 13, 1987 September 24, 1988 – August 20, 1989	Succeeded by Tom Jager Tom Jager
Preceded by Rowdy Gaines	Men's 100-meter freestyle world record-holder (long course) August 6, 1985 – June 18, 1994	Succeeded by Alexander Popov
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Michael Gross Tamás Darnyi	Swimming World World Swimmer of the Year 1986 1988	Succeeded by Tamás Darnyi Mike Barrowman
Preceded by Ben Johnson	United Press International Athlete of the Year 1988	Succeeded by Boris Becker
Olympic Games
Preceded by Carl Osburn	Most career Olympic medals by an American 1988–2004	Succeeded by Jenny Thompson
Preceded by Mark Spitz
Preceded by Carl Osburn	Most career Olympic medals by an American man 1988–2008	Succeeded by Michael Phelps
Preceded by Mark Spitz