Mark Spitz
USA
Swimming
Overall Ranks
#6 among American Olympians
#4 among Male American Olympians
#2 among Swimmers
Olympic Results
1968
100m Freestyle - Bronze
4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold
4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold
100m Butterfly - Silver
1972
100m Freestyle - Gold
200m Freestyle - Gold
4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold
4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold
100m Butterfly - Gold
200m Butterfly - Gold
4x100m Medley Relay - Gold
Total
Events - 12
Gold - 9
Silver - 1
Bronze - 1
Mark Andrew Spitz was born on February 10, 1950 in Modesto, California, and moved with his family to Honolulu as a small child, where he learned to swim in the ocean. They returned to California when he was 6, and by the time he was 9, he was training to become a competitive swimmer. He set his first world record at age 17 in the 400m freestyle.
By the next year, he held 10 world records, and predicted that he would win 6 gold medals at that year's Olympics in Mexico City. He started out in the 4x100m relay, where he would race third. The USA started strong, with a lead of almost a second after the first leg, which ballooned to 2.5 seconds at the midway point. Spitz pushed the lead to 2.7 seconds, and the final swimmer coasted home to win by 2.5 seconds and give the USA the gold, and Spitz his first.
His second event was the 100m Freestyle, and he started out well, winning his initial heat to advance to the semifinal. In that round, he came in second, behind Mike Wenden of Australia, who tied the Olympic record with his time. In the final, Wenden was even better, breaking the world record, while Spitz only managed to finish in 3rd place, earning a bronze, and ending his quest for 6 golds.
His next event was the 100m Butterfly, where he was the world record holder. He started off the race well, holding the lead at the turn, but on the back half, teammate Doug Russell pulled ahead of Spitz and beat him to the wall by half a second, setting an Olympic record in the process, and leaving Spitz with a silver medal.
He swam in the 4x200m relay final on the same day, also swimming the third leg. The US was slightly behind East Germany after the initial leg, but Steve Rerych gave them a big lead of 2.5 seconds by the time Spitz went into the pool. He swam the slowest leg of the team, but still held the lead at 1.7 seconds when Don Schollander jumped in for the anchor, and he was able to hold the lead as well, giving them a 1.4 second win over the Soviet Union for Spitz' second gold in Mexico City.
His final event ended up being the 200m butterfly, as he was left off the medley relay team after losing in the 100m butterfly. Whether from fatigue or disappointment, Spitz had a terrible race, falling behind early and staying in last place throughout the final, finishing nearly 5 seconds after the winner. He had managed to win 4 medals in Mexico City, but it was far below what he had expected.
After the 1968 Olympics, Spitz decided to attend college at the University of Indiana, where his Olympic coach worked. While there, he won 8 NCAA titles, and rebuilt his confidence in preparation for the 1972 Olympics, where he again set a goal to win 6 gold medals.
He started out competing in the 200m butterfly, where he had set 8 world records in the past 5 years. He had the fastest time in the prelim by far, and never gave anyone else a chance in the final, leading by 0.81 seconds at the first turn, and extending that lead throughout, finishing 2.16 seconds ahead of Gary Hall for the gold medal and a new world record.
40 minutes later, he swam the anchor leg in the 4x100m relay. The B team had already broken the world record in the prelim round, and now they were racing with a stronger team. The Soviets held a slight lead after the first leg, but the USA pulled slightly ahead by midway. The lead was over 2.5 seconds when Spitz got his turn, and he swam a great leg to break the world record by more than 2 seconds, while winning the gold medal by 3.3 seconds.
His third event, the 200m freestyle, was the next day. He went out fast in this one, hoping to pull away from the field, but held a lead of only 0.12 seconds at the first turn, and was passed on the second lap by Steve Genter, also of the USA, who held a small lead over Spitz through the final turn. At that point, Spitz turned it on, and he ended up beating Genter by almost a full second, while setting another world record, his third in just two days.
Two days later, he swam in the 100m butterfly final, where he had set the last 7 world records, including 2 at the Olympic Trials a month earlier. It was more of the same in the final, with Spitz going out very fast, and coming home in world record time again, beating the silver medalist by 1.29 seconds in a short race.
His fifth event was just an hour later, where he would swim anchor in the 4x200m relay. The USA was pretty much considered unbeatable in this event, and they lived up to expectations. They were slightly behind the home team, West Germany, at the midway point, but Genter swam an amazing third leg to give the USA a lead of more than 4 seconds before Spitz had to swim. He swam a solid leg, and extended the lead to 5.91 seconds by the end, earning his 5th gold medal of the games, all in world record times.
His next event was the 100m freestyle, which was his weakest event, and he even considered skipping the event to avoid missing out on a perfect Olympics, as he was confident in the medley relay that was coming the next day, but he decided to race anyway. He took off quickly again, hoping to put distance between himself and Jerry Heidenreich, his chief opposition, and it worked, as he had a lead of 0.36 seconds at the turn, and was able to hold off a charge at the end to win gold by 0.43 seconds, again setting a world record.
He finished up his Olympics with the 4x100m medley relay final, where he swam the third leg, the butterfly. East Germany led after the backstroke by over 1.5 seconds, but that was no surprise, as they had the best in the world at that stroke. The USA caught up and took the lead after the breaststroke by 0.13 seconds, and then Spitz put it away in his leg, extending the lead to 2.21 seconds. Heidenreich swam the freestyle to finish it off, and he pushed the lead clear out to 3.96 seconds by the end, and Spitz had his 7th gold medal, every one of them in world record time.
The following day was the Munich Massacre, where 2 Israeli athletes were killed and several more taken hostage by Palestinian militants, so Spitz, who is Jewish, was escorted to London overnight for his protection. He retired soon after his historic Olympic performance, despite being only 22 years old. He briefly attempted a comeback in 1991, but it was more of a publicity stunt, and he did not qualify for the 1992 games.
Even though his first Olympics were somewhat of a disappointment, he did win 4 medals as an 18-year-old, which is no small feat. His performance is Munich is one of the greatest single performances by an athlete in a single Olympics in history, and was enough alone to put him on this list, but when adding together his full career, including 9 total gold medals, he is obviously one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
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