SPITZ, MARK ANDREW

SPITZ, MARK ANDREW (1950– ), U.S. swimmer, holder of the record for most gold medals won in a single Olympics with seven, and tied for most gold medals overall with nine; member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Born in Modesto, California, the eldest of three children to Lenore and Arnold, a steel executive, Spitz began swimming at age two, when his family moved to Honolulu and Spitz would swim at Waikiki Beach every day. The family returned to California four years later, and Spitz received his first competitive training at six at the Sacramento YMCA. By the time he was 10, he held 17 national age-group records and one world record, the 50-yard butterfly, which he completed in 31 seconds, and was named "the world's best 10-and-under swimmer." The family moved to Santa Clara when Spitz was 14, so he could train at the famed Santa Clara Swim Club. In 1965 at age 15, he swam at the Maccabiah games in his first international competition, winning four gold medals. At age 16 he won the 100-meter butterfly at the 1966 National AAU Championships, the first of his 24 AAU titles. The next year he won five gold medals at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, and laid claim to ten world records. By the time Spitz was 18, he had won 26 national and international titles, and broken 10 world and 28 U.S. records. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, where much was expected of him, Spitz came away disappointed after predicting he would win six gold medals. He won two gold medals, in the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays, a silver medal in the 100m butterfly, and bronze in the 100m freestyle. Spitz spent the next four years at Indiana University, winning almost every conceivable award and setting almost every world record in existence, as he prepared for the 1972 Olympics in Munich. He returned to Israel for the 1969 Maccabiah Games, winning another six gold medals. By the spring of 1972, Spitz had set 23 world records and 35 U.S. records. Driven by ambition and sheer single-mindedness, Spitz won seven Olympic gold medals in 1972 at the Munich Games – a feat unequaled by any Olympic athlete – with a world record in each of the seven events (the 100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m freestyle, and the 4 × 100 m medley). The next week he was on the September 11, 1972, cover of Time magazine. Spitz's 11 total medals in the two Olympics are tied for the most medals ever won by a U.S. Olympian. Hours after he won his last medal, Palestinian terrorism claimed the lives of 11 Israeli sportsmen, and security personnel whisked Spitz out of Munich. Over his career, Spitz set 26 individual world records in the freestyle and butterfly, contributing to another seven relay world records; 38 American records; 24 National AAU championships; and eight NCAA titles. He was named "World Swimmer of the Year" in 1967, 1971, and 1972 and became the first Jewish recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award in 1971, given annually to the Amateur Athlete of the Year. Spitz attempted a comeback at age 41 in an attempt to qualify for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, after filmmaker Bud greenspan offered to pay him a million dollars if he succeeded in qualifying. Filmed by Greenspan's cameras, Spitz failed to beat the qualifying limit – his best time was 58:03, but he needed 55:59. Spitz was named a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983. He wrote The Mark Spitz Complete Book of Swimming (1976) and his autobiography, Seven Golds: Mark Spitz Own Story (1981). (Elli Wohlgelernter (2nd ed.)