Mark Spitz

Mark Spitz

Spitz in July 2008.
Personal information
Full name	Mark Andrew Spitz
Nationality	United States
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	freestyle, butterfly
College team	Indiana Hoosiers (1968-1972)
Medal record Men’s swimming Representing United States Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City 4x100 m freestyle relay 1968 Mexico City 4x200 m freestyle relay 1972 Munich 100 m butterfly 1972 Munich 100 m freestyle 1972 Munich 200 m butterfly 1972 Munich 200 m freestyle 1972 Munich 4x100 m freestyle relay 1972 Munich 4x100 m medley relay 1972 Munich 4x200 m freestyle relay 1968 Mexico City 100 m butterfly 1968 Mexico City 100 m freestyle Pan American Games 1967 Winnipeg Swimming 1967 Winnipeg Swimming 1967 Winnipeg Swimming 1967 Winnipeg Swimming 1967 Winnipeg Swimming Maccabiah Games 1965 Israel Swimming 1965 Israel Swimming 1965 Israel Swimming 1965 Israel Swimming 1969 Israel Swimming 1969 Israel Swimming 1969 Israel Swimming 1969 Israel Swimming 1969 Israel Swimming 1969 Israel Swimming

Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950, in Modesto, California) is a two-time American Olympic swimmer. He remains one of only a few Olympic athletes to win both a gold medal in every (individual) event he entered in a given year, and to set a new world record in each such event.

Between 1965 and 1972, Spitz won 9 Olympic gold medals, 1 silver, and 1 bronze; 5 Pan American golds; 31 National U.S. Amateur Athletic Union titles; and 8 U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships. During those years, he set 33 world records.

His participation in the 1972 Munich Olympic games gained him a bit of notoriety as he swam with a mustache, whereas most competitors opt to shave their entire bodies.[1]

Spitz and his wife, Tracey (née Weiner), both Jewish, have been married since 1973, and have two sons, Matthew (b. 1981) and Justin (b. 1991).

Swimming career

When he was two years old, Spitz's family moved to Hawaii, where he learned to swim. At age six his family returned to Sacramento, California, and he began to compete at his local swim club. At age nine, he was training at Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento with Sherm Chavoor, the swimming coach who mentored Spitz and six other Olympic medal winners.

Spitz continued to show his tremendous talents by the early age of 10, holding 17 national age-group and one world record. At 14, the family moved to Santa Clara so Spitz could train with George Haines of the Santa Clara Swim Club. At 16, he won the 100 meter butterfly at the National AAU Championships, the first of his 24 AAU titles.

Disappointed in his 1968 Olympic performance, Spitz entered Indiana University to train with legendary coach Doc Counsilman, who was also his coach in Mexico City. At Indiana from 1968-72, he was a pre-dental student and member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. While at IU, Spitz won 8 individual NCAA titles. In 1971, he won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Spitz also set a number of world records during the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials held in Chicago's Portage Park in 1972.

He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971 and 1972.

He was nicknamed "Mark the Shark" by his teammates.

Pan American Games

In 1967, he established a record, winning five gold medals at the V Pan American Games in Winnipeg. Forty years later his record was surpassed by Brazilian swimmer Thiago Pereira at the XV Pan American Games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when he won six gold medals.

Olympics

Holder of 10 world records already, Spitz predicted brashly he would win six golds at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. However, he won only two team golds: the 4 x 100 meter freestyle, and the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relays. In addition, Spitz finished 2nd in the 100 m butterfly. In this event he was beaten by fellow American Doug Russell by 1/2 a second despite holding the world record and having beaten Russell in the previous 10 times they had swam against each other in that year. Russell did briefly match Spitz's world record in late August of 1967, holding the world record equally with Spitz for five days before Spitz regained it solely on October 2 1967. As a result of being beaten by Russell, Spitz did not get to swim in the 4 x 100 m Medley Relay which gave Russell his second Gold medal and the USA team another World Record swim. He also finished third in the 100 m freestyle at the same games.

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich (West Germany), Spitz was back to maintain his bid for the six gold medals. He did even more, winning seven Olympic gold medals, a feat still unequaled by any other athlete in a single Olympiad. Further, Spitz set a new world record in each of the seven events (the 100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 4 x 100 m freestyle relay, 4 x 200 m freestyle relay and the 4 x 100 m medley relay). Spitz became one of only four Olympic greats to win nine career gold medals, together with Larissa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, and Carl Lewis. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps briefly joined the elite group, until he surpassed them by winning his 10th and 11th career gold medals, only a day after his ninth.

Maccabiah Games

The 1965 Maccabiah Games was his first international competition. At the age of 15, in Tel Aviv, Spitz won four gold medals and was named the most outstanding athlete.

He returned to Israel in 1969, following the Mexico Olympics, to again compete in the Maccabiah. This time he won six gold medals. He was again named outstanding athlete of the Games.

In 1985 Spitz opened the games, lighting a torch along with three children of Israeli Olympians murdered at the Munich Olympics.

In 2005, he was chosen to be the flag bearer for the U.S. delegation to the 17th Maccabiah Games.

Retirement and attempted comeback

Still only aged 22, Spitz retired from swimming after the Munich Games. His management tried to get him into show business while his name was still hot. In 1973-4, Spitz appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and TV series such as The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Emergency! as paramedic Pete Barlow. In 1985 he appeared as a TV announcer in Challenge of a Lifetime. In 1998 he appeared in a TV commerical for Sony PlayStation - however, Spitz was clearly uncomfortable on camera, and he mostly had occasional bit spots in shows and commercials.

Then, at age 41, Spitz attempted a comeback for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics after film maker Bud Greenspan offered him a million dollars if he succeeded in qualifying. Filmed by Greenspan's cameras, Spitz failed to beat the qualifying limit, despite his times being nearly as good as (and in some cases better than) his medal-winning times 20 years earlier.. It became clear that the sport had moved on during the intervening years and Spitz was well out of it.

In 1999, Spitz ranked #33 on ESPN SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes, the only aquatic athlete to make the list.

In 2006 he received critical praise for his narration of Freedom's Fury, a Hungarian documentary about the country's Olympic water polo team during the Revolution of 1956. The film was executive produced by Quentin Tarantino and Lucy Liu, and made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival.

In November 2007, Spitz made a cameo appearance on Amanda Beard's first television commercial (for GoDaddy) featuring her own seven Olympic medals (won between 1996-2004).

In a live, in-studio interview with KCRA host Mike TeSelle on June 14, 2008, Spitz commented that he no longer maintains his iconic mustache because it had become "too gray."

Per his official Web site, Spitz is currently self-employed as a corporate spokesperson and motivational speaker. However, Sports Yahoo! lists his occupation as a stock broker and motivational speaker.

Criticism of 2008 Summer Olympics

According to a report released by Agence France Presse (AFP) wire service, Spitz felt snubbed about not being asked to attend the 2008 Olympics to watch Michael Phelps attempt to break his record of 7 gold medals. In the article, he is quoted as saying, "I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am....I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost—it is." Spitz also says he could have won 8 gold medals if given the chance. "I won seven events. If they had the 50m freestyle back then, which they do now, I probably would have won that too," he said. And Spitz thinks Phelps will succeed, "he's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did," Spitz said. "He reminds me of myself."

External links

• Official Website
• Spitz U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Mark Spitz ESPN Classic biography