Encyclopedia > Mark Spitz

  Article Content

Mark Spitz

Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American swimmer. He holds the record for most medals won in a single Olympics (seven), which he set in 1972.

In 1968, Mark Spitz participated in his first Olympic Games in Mexico City. Together with his teammates, Spitz won two titles: the 4 x 100 m freestyle and the 4 x 200 m freestyle relays. In addition, Spitz finished second in the 100 m butterfly and third in the 100 m freestyle. In spite of the successes, Spitz was disappointed, as he had announced a bid for five gold medals, after his had accomplished that feat at the 1967 Panamerican Games[?].

Four years later, in Munich, Spitz got his revenge. In West Germany, he won no less than seven Olympic gold medals, a feat yet unequalled by any other Olympic athlete. Even more remarkable, Spitz won all the gold medals setting a new World Record. The events he won were: 100 m freestyle, 200 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 4 x 100 m freestyle, 4 x 100 m freestyle and 4 x 100 m medley.

Still only aged 22, Spitz retired from swimming after the Munich Games. However, at age 41, Spitz attempted to make a comeback in an attempt to qualify for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, after film maker Bud Greenspan[?] had offered him a million dollars if he would succeed in qualifying. Filmed by Greenspan's cameras, Spitz failed to make the qualifying limit.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
242

... 190s 200s 210s 220s 230s - 240s - 250s 260s 270s 280s 290s Years: 237 238 239 240 241 - 242 - 243 244 245 246 247 Events Patriarch Titus[?] succeeds ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 26.5 ms