Mark Spitz
Encyclopedia
Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals
at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps
who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics
.
Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz won nine Olympic golds plus a silver
and a bronze
, five Pan American
golds, 31 US Amateur Athletic Union
titles and eight US National Collegiate Athletic Association titles
. During those years, he set 33 world records. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971 and 1972.
, the first of three children of Arnold and Lenore Smith Spitz. When he was two years old, Spitz's family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where he swam at Waikiki Beach every day. "You should have seen that little boy dash into the ocean. He'd run like he was trying to commit suicide." Lenore Spitz told a reporter for Time (April 12, 1968). 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 him and six other Olympic medal winners.
Before he was 10, Spitz held 17 national age-group records, and one world record.
At 14, his family moved to Santa Clara
so Spitz could train with George F. Haines of the Santa Clara Swim Club
. From 1964 to 1968 Mark trained with Haines at SCSC and Santa Clara High School
. During his four years there, Mark held national high school records in every stroke and in every distance . It was a remarkable and unprecedented achievement. In 1966, at 16, he won the 100 meter butterfly
at the National AAU
Championships, the first of his 24 AAU titles. The following year, 1967 Mark set his first world record at a small California meet, in the 400 meter freestyle, with a time of 4:10.60, and emerged on the world swimming stage.
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 lit a torch to open the Maccabiah games.
In 2005, he was a member of the U.S. delegation at the 17th Maccabiah Games.
In 2005, he spoke at the JCC Maccabiah Games Opening Ceremonies, which was held in Richmond, Virginia. The Weinstein JCC in Richmond was one of the Host JCC's for the 2005 games with over 1,000 teenagers participating in various sports, including swimming.
won six golds at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro
in 2007.
in Mexico City. However, he won only two team golds: the 4 × 100 meter freestyle
relay in 3:31:70, and the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay in 7:52:33. In addition, Spitz finished second in the 100m butterfly
in 00:56:40. In this event he was beaten by fellow American Doug Russell
by a half second, despite holding the world record and having beaten Russell the previous ten times they had swum against each other that year. Russell did briefly match Spitz's world record in late August 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 × 100 meter medley relay, which gave Russell his second gold medal and the USA team another World Record swim
.
performance, Spitz entered Indiana University (IU) to train with legendary coach Doc Counsilman, who was also his coach in Mexico City. 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 nicknamed "Mark the Shark" by his teammates.
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. Further, Spitz set a new world record in each of the seven events (the 100 m freestyle [00:51:22], 200 m freestyle [01:52:78], 100 m butterfly [00:54:27], 200 m butterfly [02:00:70], 4 × 100 m freestyle relay [03:26:42], 4 x 200 m freestyle relay [07:35:78] and the 4 × 100 m medley relay [03:48:16]). Originally Spitz was reluctant to swim the 100m freestyle fearing a less than gold medal finish. Minutes before the race he confessed on the pool deck to ABC
's Donna de Varona
, "I know I say I don't want to swim before every event but this time I'm serious. If I swim six and win six, I'll be a hero. If I swim seven and win six, I'll be a failure." Spitz won by half a stroke in a world-record 51.22.
Spitz is one of five Olympians to win nine or more career gold medals: Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi
and Carl Lewis
also have nine; only swimmer Michael Phelps
has won more with 14. Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics was not surpassed until Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
.
In 1999, Spitz ranked #33 on ESPN
SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes, the only aquatic athlete to make the list.
Spitz briefly came out of retirement in 1992. He competed for a place on the U.S. Swimming Team at the Barcelona Games
at the age of 41. Unfortunately, he was two seconds slower than the requisite qualifying time at the Olympic trials.
A poster featuring Spitz wearing his swimsuit and seven gold medals made him the hottest pin-up since Betty Grable.
In 1973–74, Spitz appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
and TV series such as The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Emergency!
as Pete Barlow, who accidentally shoots his wife, played by his real life wife, Suzy. He also appeared briefly on the The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast
of then-Governor Ronald Reagan in September 1973. Spitz went to work for ABC Sports in 1976 and worked on many sports presentations, including coverage of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1985 he appeared as a TV announcer in Challenge of a Lifetime
. He continued as a broadcaster for some time, but within a few years, he had all but vanished as a public figure.
team's famous Blood in the Water match
against Russia during the Revolution of 1956—considered the most famous match in water polo history
. The film was executive produced by Quentin Tarantino
and Lucy Liu
, and made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival
.
In 1974 he was in a number of Schick razors commercials. In 1998 he appeared with Evel Knievel
in a TV commercial for PlayStation
.
In 2004 he appeared in a TV commercial for Sprint PCS. Then 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). The ad was entitled "Shock". Also, in 2007 he appeared in the infomercial for the "Orbitrek Elite" fitness workout.
He appeared in a commercial for Lear Capital, a gold investment company. (at 8:13 and 15:42 on a video at http://www.stanpredicts.com/media.php dated February 12, 2011, but the commercial was edited out of the version labeled "Episode 1: Will Massive Amount [sic] Of Oil Be Discovered In Israel?")
, and is on the swim team.
At Indiana University from 1968–72, he was a pre-dental student and member of Phi Kappa Psi
Fraternity. TIME magazine asked him if he wanted to return to dental school after the Olympics. "I always wanted to be a dentist from the time I was in high school, and I was accepted to dental school in the spring of 1972. I was planning to go, but after the Olympics there were other opportunities. I did some television and speaking engagements, and things just went from there."
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. According to a recent interview "Spitz became a stockbroker in 2002 and has since moved into private equity. He is now also dabbling in the "water business," as he calls it, and is in negotiations to build a water-bottling facility on aquifer-rich land that he and a business partner own.
He has pursued various entrepreneurial projects with former NBA player Rick Barry
. He travels the world delivering about 25 lectures a year. His biography, The Extraordinary Life of An Olympic Champion by Richard J. Foster was released in July 2008.
Spitz has stated he no longer swims.
Mark Spitz is quoted as saying, "When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the mustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it—and everybody was talking about it—that I decided to keep it. I had some fun with a Russian coach who asked me if my mustache slowed me down. I said, 'No, as a matter of fact, it deflects water away from my mouth, allows my rear end to rise and make me bullet-shaped in the water, and that's what had allowed me to swim so great.' He's translating as fast as he can for the other coaches, and the following year every Russian male swimmer had a mustache."
According to a Sports Illustrated article, on February 14, 1988, after talking about shaving off his mustache for a year, he finally did. "He looked great with it, don't get me wrong," explained his wife Suzy, "but he looks so handsome without it."
When he was asked why he shaved it off he responded "well, one, I'm not swimming anymore; two, it started to turn gray; and three, my wife had never seen me, nor my family, without the mustache... I'm happy [without it]." He also commented on his mustache 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."
, a condition from which his physician thinks he suffered throughout his career. "During my Olympic training, I attributed the symptoms [of acid reflux] to an overexposure to chlorine and eating too soon before and after swimming," says Spitz. "It wasn't until the symptoms began to get in the way of my 1976 Olympic broadcasting career in Montreal, which was four years after retirement that I suspected something more serious must be happening."
He has also reported having high cholesterol and other chronic health issues. "People don't believe that I have high cholesterol, but it's a fact," said Spitz. "I take medication every day because my doctor told me that diet and exercise are not enough to keep my cholesterol down. He is a paid spokesperson for Medco
, a pharmacy benefit management company."
during the medal ceremony. Following the 200-meter freestyle race Spitz arrived to obtain his gold medal barefoot and carrying his shoes. He put them down when the American national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" was played. After the anthem played, he picked up his shoes and waved to the crowd. The Soviets saw this as product placement. When questioned by the IOC, Spitz explained that the gesture was innocent, the shoes were old and he was not paid. The IOC cleared him of any wrongdoing.
to watch Michael Phelps
break his seven gold medal record. In an 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 has stated that he has no hard feelings towards Phelps. He is, however, unhappy that he was not invited to the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a result, Spitz refused to attend the games. "They voted me one of the top five Olympians of all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me," he said. "Yes, I am a bit upset about it."
However, on August 14, 2008 Spitz appeared on NBC's Today Show where he clarified his statement and his pride in Michael Phelps:
Also on August 14, 2008, in an interview aired on Los Angeles KNBC-4's morning news show, Today in L.A.
, Spitz was quoted saying he does believe that, "Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympic athlete ever."
On August 15, 2008, as part of an interview on NBC, Spitz said that he felt Phelps' performance in the 100 fly in Beijing was "epic". Spitz paid this compliment to Phelps just two hours after his record-tying seventh gold medal during a live joint interview with Bob Costas
:
During a radio interview in Australia, Spitz was quoted as saying "They don't want to test for everything because there's tremendous pressure from the television networks because they want the television to have athletic competitions with the world record holders there for the finals. They want the medals not to be tainted in their value of accomplishment by winning them, and it's all about ratings and commercial selling of time and about money. And an International Olympic Committee has got their hand in the pockets of the network television people, so there's a tremendous conflict of interest in what they should do and what they're doing."
In August 2008 the Los Angeles Times
reported, that Spitz continued to discuss drug testing and was saying "the IOC has sponsors who demand a good show. Television pays the IOC for the rights to that good show, and its sponsors want that too. Drug news and drug distractions are not a good show. People are not going to tune in to see athletes have their medals taken away from them."
Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany, 29 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing....
at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
.
Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz won nine Olympic golds plus a silver
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
and a bronze
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
, five Pan American
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
golds, 31 US Amateur Athletic Union
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
titles and eight US National Collegiate Athletic Association titles
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
. During those years, he set 33 world records. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971 and 1972.
Early life
Spitz was born to a Jewish family in Modesto, CaliforniaModesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
, the first of three children of Arnold and Lenore Smith Spitz. When he was two years old, Spitz's family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where he swam at Waikiki Beach every day. "You should have seen that little boy dash into the ocean. He'd run like he was trying to commit suicide." Lenore Spitz told a reporter for Time (April 12, 1968). At age six his family returned to Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, 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 him and six other Olympic medal winners.
Before he was 10, Spitz held 17 national age-group records, and one world record.
At 14, his family moved to Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
so Spitz could train with George F. Haines of the Santa Clara Swim Club
Santa Clara Swim Club
The Santa Clara Swim Club is a renowned swimming club and team based in Santa Clara, California. Founded in 1951 by George Haines, the team's coach until 1974, the club has many notable alumni, including Donna de Varona, Pablo Morales, Don Schollander, Mark Spitz, Chris von Saltza, Lynn Burke,...
. From 1964 to 1968 Mark trained with Haines at SCSC and Santa Clara High School
Santa Clara High School (Santa Clara, California)
Santa Clara High SchoolAddress3000 Benton St.Santa Clara, CA 95051Founded1872School typePublicPrincipalDave GrissomEnrollment1788 FacultyApprox. 101Campus surroundingsSuburbanMascotBruinsSchool ColorsNoble Blue and Gold...
. During his four years there, Mark held national high school records in every stroke and in every distance . It was a remarkable and unprecedented achievement. In 1966, at 16, he won the 100 meter butterfly
Butterfly stroke
The butterfly is a swimming stroke swum on the breast, with both arms moving simultaneously. The butterfly kick was developed separately, and is also known as the "dolphin kick"...
at the National AAU
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
Championships, the first of his 24 AAU titles. The following year, 1967 Mark set his first world record at a small California meet, in the 400 meter freestyle, with a time of 4:10.60, and emerged on the world swimming stage.
Maccabiah Games
The 1965 Maccabiah GamesMaccabiah Games
The Maccabiah is an international Jewish athletic event similar to the Olympics held in Israel every four years under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, affiliated with the Maccabi World Union. The Maccabiah Games is the third largest international sports competition in the world...
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 lit a torch to open the Maccabiah games.
In 2005, he was a member of the U.S. delegation at the 17th Maccabiah Games.
In 2005, he spoke at the JCC Maccabiah Games Opening Ceremonies, which was held in Richmond, Virginia. The Weinstein JCC in Richmond was one of the Host JCC's for the 2005 games with over 1,000 teenagers participating in various sports, including swimming.
Pan American Games
In 1967, he won five gold medals at the Pan American Games, thereby setting a record until Brazilian swimmer Thiago PereiraThiago Pereira
Thiago Machado Vilela Pereira is an international competition swimmer from Brazil. He became known in his native country after winning the silver medal in the 200 m individual medley at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2003.Pereira's biggest success came one year...
won six golds at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in 2007.
1968 Olympics
Holder of ten world records already, Spitz predicted brashly he would win six golds at the 1968 Summer Olympics1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
in Mexico City. However, he won only two team golds: the 4 × 100 meter freestyle
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...
relay in 3:31:70, and the 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay in 7:52:33. In addition, Spitz finished second in the 100m butterfly
Butterfly stroke
The butterfly is a swimming stroke swum on the breast, with both arms moving simultaneously. The butterfly kick was developed separately, and is also known as the "dolphin kick"...
in 00:56:40. In this event he was beaten by fellow American Doug Russell
Douglas Russell
Douglas Albert Russell is an Olympic Champion butterfly swimmer from the United States, who won the first ever gold medal in the men's 100m butterfly - an event which made its debut at the 1968 Summer Olympics...
by a half second, despite holding the world record and having beaten Russell the previous ten times they had swum against each other that year. Russell did briefly match Spitz's world record in late August 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 × 100 meter medley relay, which gave Russell his second gold medal and the USA team another World Record swim
Swimming at the 1968 Summer Olympics
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, 29 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 468 participants from 51 countries competing. The United States dominated the competition, winning 52 of 87 medals.-Medal table:-Men's events:...
.
College training
Disappointed in his 1968 Olympic1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...
performance, Spitz entered Indiana University (IU) to train with legendary coach Doc Counsilman, who was also his coach in Mexico City. While at IU, Spitz won 8 individual NCAA titles. In 1971, he won the James E. Sullivan Award
James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...
as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Spitz also set a number of world records during the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials
United States Olympic Trials (swimming)
The United States Olympic Team Trials in Swimming are held before every Summer Olympics to select the participators for the USA's swimming team. The event is overseen by the United States Olympic Committee and run/operated by USA Swimming....
held in Chicago's Portage Park
Portage Park (Chicago)
Portage Park is a park in the Portage Park community area of Chicago, Illinois on the National Register of Historic Places. The park stretches from Irving Park Road on the south to Berteau Avenue between Central and Long Avenues...
in 1972.
He was nicknamed "Mark the Shark" by his teammates.
1972 Olympics
At the 1972 Summer OlympicsSwimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Munich, West Germany, 29 events in swimming were contested. There was a total of 532 participants from 52 countries competing....
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. Further, Spitz set a new world record in each of the seven events (the 100 m freestyle [00:51:22], 200 m freestyle [01:52:78], 100 m butterfly [00:54:27], 200 m butterfly [02:00:70], 4 × 100 m freestyle relay [03:26:42], 4 x 200 m freestyle relay [07:35:78] and the 4 × 100 m medley relay [03:48:16]). Originally Spitz was reluctant to swim the 100m freestyle fearing a less than gold medal finish. Minutes before the race he confessed on the pool deck to ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Donna de Varona
Donna de Varona
Donna Elizabeth de Varona is a former American swimmer of Mexican and Irish descent.-Swimming career:...
, "I know I say I don't want to swim before every event but this time I'm serious. If I swim six and win six, I'll be a hero. If I swim seven and win six, I'll be a failure." Spitz won by half a stroke in a world-record 51.22.
Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish runner. Born in Turku, he was known as one of the "Flying Finns," a term given to him, Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola, and others for their distinction in running...
and Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis
Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis is an American former track and field athlete, who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 gold, and 10 World Championships medals, of which 8 were gold. His career spanned from 1979 when he first achieved a world ranking to 1996 when he last won an Olympic title and...
also have nine; only swimmer Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
has won more with 14. Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics was not surpassed until Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
.
Retirement
Following the Munich Olympics, even though he was still only 22, Spitz retired from competition.In 1999, Spitz ranked #33 on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes, the only aquatic athlete to make the list.
Spitz briefly came out of retirement in 1992. He competed for a place on the U.S. Swimming Team at the Barcelona Games
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
at the age of 41. Unfortunately, he was two seconds slower than the requisite qualifying time at the Olympic trials.
Hall of Fame
- International Swimming Hall of FameInternational Swimming Hall of FameThe International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around...
, Inducted 1977. - International Jewish Sports Hall of FameInternational Jewish Sports Hall of FameThe International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame was opened July 7, 1981, in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around the world....
, Inducted 1979. - United States Olympic Hall of FameUnited States Olympic Hall of FameThe United States Olympic Hall of Fame is an honor roll of the top American Olympic athletes.The Hall of Fame was established by the United States Olympic Committee in 1979; the first members were inducted in 1983. Between 1992 and 2003, the Hall of Fame went dormant, with no induction of new...
, Inducted 1983. - San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, inducted Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
- National Jewish Museum Sports Hall of FameNational Jewish Museum Sports Hall of FameThe National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, in Commack, New York, is dedicated to honoring American Jewish sports figures who have distinguished themselves in sports....
, Inducted 2007. - Long Beach City CollegeLong Beach City CollegeLong Beach City College, established in 1927, is a community college located in Long Beach, California. It is divided into two campuses. The Liberal Arts Campus, known as LAC, is located in the residential community of the Lakewood Village section of Long Beach, on Carson Street west of Clark Avenue...
Hall of Fame, Inducted 2007 - Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame
After swimming retirement
After his retirement at age 22, he was managed by the William Morris Agency, which tried to get him into show business while his name was still hot.A poster featuring Spitz wearing his swimsuit and seven gold medals made him the hottest pin-up since Betty Grable.
In 1973–74, Spitz appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
and TV series such as The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...
as Pete Barlow, who accidentally shoots his wife, played by his real life wife, Suzy. He also appeared briefly on the The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast is a NBC television special show hosted by entertainer Dean Martin from 1974 to 1984. For a series of 54 specials and shows, Martin would periodically “roast” a celebrity. These roasts were patterned after the roasts held at the New York Friars' Club in New York City...
of then-Governor Ronald Reagan in September 1973. Spitz went to work for ABC Sports in 1976 and worked on many sports presentations, including coverage of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1985 he appeared as a TV announcer in Challenge of a Lifetime
Challenge of a Lifetime
Challenge of a Lifetime is a 1985 television film directed by Russ Mayberry. Starring Penny Marshall and Jonathan Silverman, the film focuses on a 35-year-old woman entering a Triathlon.- Plot :...
. He continued as a broadcaster for some time, but within a few years, he had all but vanished as a public figure.
Critical praise
In 2006 he received critical praise for his narration of Freedom's Fury, a Hungarian documentary about the Olympic water poloWater polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
team's famous Blood in the Water match
Blood In The Water match
The "Blood in the Water" match was a water polo match between Hungary and the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The match, which took place on December 6, 1956, was against the background of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and saw Hungary defeat the USSR 4–0...
against Russia during the Revolution of 1956—considered the most famous match in water polo history
History of water polo
The history of water polo as a team sport began in late 19th century England and Scotland, where water sports were a feature of county fairs and festivals...
. The film was executive produced by Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
and Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu
Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal , and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda.-Early...
, and made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
.
Commercials
He appeared in an ad for the California Milk Advisory Board. One of his print advertisements featured the caption "I always drink it-is something I like to do. I want to be loved by the mothers."In 1974 he was in a number of Schick razors commercials. In 1998 he appeared with Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel
Evel Knievel , born Robert Craig Knievel, was an American daredevil and entertainer. In his career he attempted over 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps between 1965 and 1980, and in 1974, a failed jump across Snake River Canyon in the Skycycle X-2, a steam-powered rocket...
in a TV commercial for PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
.
In 2004 he appeared in a TV commercial for Sprint PCS. Then in November 2007, Spitz made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
on Amanda Beard
Amanda Beard
Amanda Ray Beard is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist . She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke ....
's first television commercial (for GoDaddy) featuring her own seven Olympic medals (won between 1996–2004). The ad was entitled "Shock". Also, in 2007 he appeared in the infomercial for the "Orbitrek Elite" fitness workout.
He appeared in a commercial for Lear Capital, a gold investment company. (at 8:13 and 15:42 on a video at http://www.stanpredicts.com/media.php dated February 12, 2011, but the commercial was edited out of the version labeled "Episode 1: Will Massive Amount [sic] Of Oil Be Discovered In Israel?")
Family life
When Spitz returned from the Olympics, he began dating Suzy Weiner, a UCLA theater student and part-time model, who was also the daughter of one of his father's business acquaintances. Less than a year after Munich, they were married on May 6, 1973, in a traditional Jewish service at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They have two sons, Matthew (born October 1981) and Justin (born September 1991). His son Justin is currently a freshman at Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and is on the swim team.
Education
From 1964 to 1968 Spitz attended the Santa Clara High School. After graduating he went on to Indiana University.At Indiana University from 1968–72, he was a pre-dental student and member of Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
Fraternity. TIME magazine asked him if he wanted to return to dental school after the Olympics. "I always wanted to be a dentist from the time I was in high school, and I was accepted to dental school in the spring of 1972. I was planning to go, but after the Olympics there were other opportunities. I did some television and speaking engagements, and things just went from there."
Post-swimming career
In 1972, soon after his return to the U.S., Spitz landed several lucrative corporate endorsement contracts. He earned about $7 million in a two-year period. However, as the memory of his feat receded, so did his endorsement and promotional deals. As his endorsements faded he started a successful real-estate company in Beverly Hills. He bought a Ferrari and says he made more than $1 million. "A million dollars in 1972 would be equivalent to more than $10 million today," Spitz said. "I did very well, thank you very much." "I would say I was a pioneer. There wasn't anyone who'd gone to the Olympics before me who capitalized the same way on opportunity. It depends on timing, it depends on hype, it depends on the economy, and most importantly, it depends on looks. I mean, I've never seen a magazine of uglies. That's our society. I'm not saying it's right. That's just the facts."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. According to a recent interview "Spitz became a stockbroker in 2002 and has since moved into private equity. He is now also dabbling in the "water business," as he calls it, and is in negotiations to build a water-bottling facility on aquifer-rich land that he and a business partner own.
He has pursued various entrepreneurial projects with former NBA player Rick Barry
Rick Barry
Richard Francis Dennis Barry III , better known as Rick Barry, is a retired American professional basketball player. He is considered by many veteran basketball observers to be one of the greatest pure small forwards of all time as a result of his very precise outside shot, uncanny court vision,...
. He travels the world delivering about 25 lectures a year. His biography, The Extraordinary Life of An Olympic Champion by Richard J. Foster was released in July 2008.
Hobbies
His hobbies include sailing, skiing and collecting art. He has been involved in blue water ocean racing (sailing) and in the summer of 1981 competed in his third Trans-Pac Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii, finishing third.Spitz has stated he no longer swims.
Iconic mustache during Olympics
In an era when other swimmers, male and female, were shaving body hair, he swam with a mustache. When asked why he initially grew one he stated "I grew the mustache because a coach in college said I couldn't grow one." Spitz said he originally grew the mustache as a form of rebellion against the clean-cut look imposed on him in college. “It took a long time to grow,” he said. It took four months to grow, but Spitz was proud of it, he decided the mustache was a "good-luck piece."Mark Spitz is quoted as saying, "When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the mustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it—and everybody was talking about it—that I decided to keep it. I had some fun with a Russian coach who asked me if my mustache slowed me down. I said, 'No, as a matter of fact, it deflects water away from my mouth, allows my rear end to rise and make me bullet-shaped in the water, and that's what had allowed me to swim so great.' He's translating as fast as he can for the other coaches, and the following year every Russian male swimmer had a mustache."
According to a Sports Illustrated article, on February 14, 1988, after talking about shaving off his mustache for a year, he finally did. "He looked great with it, don't get me wrong," explained his wife Suzy, "but he looks so handsome without it."
When he was asked why he shaved it off he responded "well, one, I'm not swimming anymore; two, it started to turn gray; and three, my wife had never seen me, nor my family, without the mustache... I'm happy [without it]." He also commented on his mustache 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."
Health issues
After retirement, Spitz was diagnosed with acid reflux diseaseGastroesophageal reflux disease
Gastroesophageal reflux disease , gastro-oesophageal reflux disease , gastric reflux disease, or acid reflux disease is chronic symptoms or mucosal damage caused by stomach acid coming up from the stomach into the esophagus...
, a condition from which his physician thinks he suffered throughout his career. "During my Olympic training, I attributed the symptoms [of acid reflux] to an overexposure to chlorine and eating too soon before and after swimming," says Spitz. "It wasn't until the symptoms began to get in the way of my 1976 Olympic broadcasting career in Montreal, which was four years after retirement that I suspected something more serious must be happening."
He has also reported having high cholesterol and other chronic health issues. "People don't believe that I have high cholesterol, but it's a fact," said Spitz. "I take medication every day because my doctor told me that diet and exercise are not enough to keep my cholesterol down. He is a paid spokesperson for Medco
Medco Health Solutions
Medco Health Solutions, Inc is a health care company currently serving the needs of more than 65 million people. Medco provides pharmacy services for private and public employers, health plans, labor unions, government agencies, and individuals served by Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans...
, a pharmacy benefit management company."
1972 medal podium incident
In 1972, Spitz was accused of product placementProduct placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
during the medal ceremony. Following the 200-meter freestyle race Spitz arrived to obtain his gold medal barefoot and carrying his shoes. He put them down when the American national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" was played. After the anthem played, he picked up his shoes and waved to the crowd. The Soviets saw this as product placement. When questioned by the IOC, Spitz explained that the gesture was innocent, the shoes were old and he was not paid. The IOC cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Issues with 2008 Summer Olympics
Spitz felt snubbed by not being asked to attend the 2008 Olympics2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
to watch Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps
Michael Fred Phelps is an American swimmer who has, overall, won 16 Olympic medals—six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at Beijing in 2008, becoming the most successful athlete at both of these Olympic Games editions...
break his seven gold medal record. In an 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 has stated that he has no hard feelings towards Phelps. He is, however, unhappy that he was not invited to the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a result, Spitz refused to attend the games. "They voted me one of the top five Olympians of all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me," he said. "Yes, I am a bit upset about it."
However, on August 14, 2008 Spitz appeared on NBC's Today Show where he clarified his statement and his pride in Michael Phelps:
Also on August 14, 2008, in an interview aired on Los Angeles KNBC-4's morning news show, Today in L.A.
Today in L.A.
Today In L.A. is a local early-morning local newscast airing over NBC's west coast flagship, KNBC-TV, in Los Angeles. It became the first morning local newscast in Southern California when it debuted on KNBC in 1986, as a half-hour lead-in to The Today Show...
, Spitz was quoted saying he does believe that, "Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympic athlete ever."
On August 15, 2008, as part of an interview on NBC, Spitz said that he felt Phelps' performance in the 100 fly in Beijing was "epic". Spitz paid this compliment to Phelps just two hours after his record-tying seventh gold medal during a live joint interview with Bob Costas
Bob Costas
Robert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...
:
Views on drug testing
Mark Spitz has been consistent in criticism of both swimming's world bodies, FINA and the IOC, in their incomplete attempts to keep drugs out of the sport. He has felt that not enough has been done to monitor and encourage drug-free participation. In 1998 he criticized FINA for its "embarrassing" attempts to stamp out drug abuse, urging them to test for all known drugs. In September 1999 Spitz said the IOC had the technology to test for a plethora of drugs but was refusing to do so because of some IOC member protests.During a radio interview in Australia, Spitz was quoted as saying "They don't want to test for everything because there's tremendous pressure from the television networks because they want the television to have athletic competitions with the world record holders there for the finals. They want the medals not to be tainted in their value of accomplishment by winning them, and it's all about ratings and commercial selling of time and about money. And an International Olympic Committee has got their hand in the pockets of the network television people, so there's a tremendous conflict of interest in what they should do and what they're doing."
In August 2008 the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported, that Spitz continued to discuss drug testing and was saying "the IOC has sponsors who demand a good show. Television pays the IOC for the rights to that good show, and its sponsors want that too. Drug news and drug distractions are not a good show. People are not going to tune in to see athletes have their medals taken away from them."
Records
See also
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
- List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
- List of select Jewish swimmers
External links
- Official Website
- Mark Spitz Official Bio
- Mark Spitz ESPN Classic biography
- Mark Spitz Olympic Medals and Stats