Mark Spitz

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Lore & Background

Spitz began swimming at age two in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he swam at Waikiki beach every day. By age nine, he was training at Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento with coach Sherm Chavoor, who mentored six other Olympic medal winners. At 10, Spitz held one world age-group record and 17 national records. When Spitz was 14, his family moved to Santa Clara, where he joined the Santa Clara Swim Club and trained with coach George F. Haines. During his four years there, Spitz held national high school records in every stroke and in every distance. In 1966 at age 16, he won the 100-meter butterfly at the AAU national championships, the first of his 24 total AAU titles. The following year, Spitz set his first world record at a small California meet with a time of 4:10.60 in the 400-meter freestyle. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Spitz brashly predicted he would win six gold medals but won only two team golds: the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He finished second to fellow American Doug Russell in the 100-meter butterfly, despite holding the world record and having beaten Russell the previous ten times that year. Disappointed, Spitz enrolled at Indiana University in January 1969 to train with coach Doc Counsilman, calling it 'the biggest decision of my life (and) the best.' While at Indiana, he won eight individual NCAA titles. In 1971, he won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Spitz won seven Olympic gold medals, each in world-record time: 100-meter freestyle (51.22), 200-meter freestyle (1:52.78), 100-meter butterfly (54.27), 200-meter butterfly (2:00.70), 4×100-meter freestyle relay (3:26.42), 4×200-meter freestyle relay (7:35.78), and 4×100-meter medley relay (3:48.16). Minutes before the 100-meter freestyle, he told ABC's Donna de Varona, 'If I swim six and win six, I'll be a hero. If I swim seven and win six, I'll be a failure.' He won by half a stroke. After the Munich Massacre, being Jewish himself, Spitz was escorted to London for his own safety, briefly with an escort of U.S. Marines. Spitz retired from competition at age 22. At age 41, he attempted a comeback for the 1992 Summer Olympics after filmmaker Bud Greenspan offered him a million dollars if he succeeded in qualifying, but he was two seconds slower than the Olympic standard and failed to qualify. In 1999, Spitz ranked No. 33 on ESPN SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes, the only aquatic athlete to make the list.

Reader's Guide

Mark Spitz's seven gold medals at a single Olympics set a benchmark that defined swimming excellence for 36 years. His achievement at the 1972 Munich Games—each gold accompanied by a world record—demonstrated a level of dominance rarely seen in any sport. Spitz's career spanned from the 1965 Maccabiah Games, where he won four golds at age 15, through the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, accumulating nine Olympic golds, a silver, and a bronze. He also won five Pan American golds, 31 AAU titles, and eight NCAA titles, setting 35 world records. His brash prediction of six golds in 1968 fell short, but his redemption in 1972 cemented his legacy. Spitz's record of seven golds in a single Games was not surpassed until Michael Phelps won eight in 2008. Spitz remains a pivotal figure in Olympic history, representing both the heights of athletic achievement and the personal risks faced by Jewish athletes during the Munich Massacre. Spitz swam in his first international competition at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel. At age 15 and weighing 130 pounds, he won four gold medals in Tel Aviv—the 400 m freestyle, the 1500 m freestyle, the 400 m individual medley, and the 800 m freestyle relay—and was named the most outstanding athlete of the Games. He returned to Israel in 1969 to again compete at the 1969 Maccabiah Games, where he won six gold medals and was again named outstanding athlete of the Games. In 1985, Spitz lit the torch to open the 1985 Maccabiah Games. In 2005, he was a member of the U.S. delegation at the 2005 Maccabiah Games and spoke at the JCC Maccabiah Games Opening Ceremonies in Richmond, Virginia. After retiring from competitive swimming at age 22, Spitz was managed by the William Morris Agency. A poster featuring Spitz wearing his swimsuit and gold medals led ESPN to retroactively label him 'the hottest pin-up since Betty Grable.' In his TV debut, he appeared as himself in a skit as a dentist on a Bob Hope special that aired October 5, 1972. In 1973–74, Spitz appeared on TV's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. On the TV drama Emergency!, he portrayed Pete Barlow, whose wife (played by Spitz's wife, Suzy) is accidentally shot by a handgun. Spitz went to work for ABC Sports in 1976 and worked on many sports presentations, including coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He continued as a broadcaster for some time, but within a few years focused on his real estate company in Beverly Hills and hobbies such as sailing.

Did You Know?

• Spitz was nicknamed 'Mark the Shark' by his Indiana University teammates.
• At age 15, weighing 130 pounds, Spitz won four gold medals at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel and was named the most outstanding athlete of the Games.
• Spitz set a new world record in each of his seven gold medal events at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
• After the Munich Massacre, Spitz was escorted to London for his own safety, briefly with an escort of U.S. Marines, because he was Jewish.
• Spitz ranked No. 33 on ESPN's SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes, the only aquatic athlete to make the list.