Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is a former American competitive swimmer, nine-time Olympic champion and former world record holder in 7 events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, a feat surpassed only by compatriot Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Spitz set a new world record in all seven events in which he competed in 1972.
Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz won nine Olympic, silver, and bronze gold medals; five Pan American gold; 31 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) title; and eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) degrees. During those years, he set 35 world records, but two of them were in trial and unofficial. He was named the World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971, and 1972 by Swimming World Magazine . He is the third athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals.
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Spitz was born in 1950 in Modesto, California, the first child of three brothers Lenore Sylvia (Smith) and Arnold Spitz. His family was Jewish; His father's family came from Hungary and his mother, originally surnamed "Sklotkovick", was from Russia. When Spitz was two years old, his family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he swims on Waikiki beach every day. "You should have seen that little boy run to the ocean, running as he tried to commit suicide," Lenore Spitz told reporters for Time in 1968. At the age of six, his family returned. to Sacramento, California, and he started competing at his local swim club. At the age of nine, he trained at the Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento with swimming coach Sherm Chavoor, who guided seven Olympic medal winners including Spitz.
Spitz holds a record of the world's age group and 17 national records at age 10. At the age of 14, the family moved to Santa Clara, where Spitz joined the Santa Clara Swimming Club and received training from coach George F. Haines. From 1964 to 1968, Mark was trained with Haines at SCSC and Santa Clara High School. For four years there, Mark holds high school records at every blow and at every distance. In 1966 at the age of 16, he won the 100 meter butterfly at the AAU national championship, the first of his 24 AAU titles in total. The following year, Mark set his first world record in small California meet in a 400-meter freestyle with a time of 4: 10.60 and appeared on the world's swimming stage.
Maps Mark Spitz
Swimming career
Maccabiah Games
Spitz swam in his first international competition in the 1965 Maccabiah Games. At the age of 15 in Tel Aviv, he won four gold medals and was crowned the most remarkable athlete.
He returned to Israel in 1969 after the Mexican Olympics to re-compete in the Maccabian Olympics. This time, he won six gold medals. He was again crowned as an outstanding athlete.
In 1985, Spitz flashed the torch to open the Maccabiah Match.
In 2005, he was a member of the US delegation at the 17th Maccabiah Olympics. He spoke at the Opening Ceremony of JCC Maccabiah Games, held in Richmond, Virginia. The Weinstein JCC in Richmond is one of the JCC hosts for the 2005 game with more than 1,000 teenagers participating in various sports, including swimming.
Panasonic Pan American Games
He won five golds at the 1967 Pan American Games, setting a record that lasted until 2007 when Brazilian Thiago Pereira won six golds at Pan American Games XV in Rio de Janeiro.
1968 Olympics
Spitz is already the holder of ten world records, and he bravely predicts that he will win six golds at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City. However, he only won two gold teams: the freestyle relay 4ÃÆ'â € "100 meters at 3: 31,70, and the freestyle relay 4ÃÆ'â €" 200 meters in 7: 52.33. In addition, Spitz ranks second in the 100-meter butterfly in 56.40 seconds; he was defeated by fellow American Doug Russell, with half a second, despite holding a world record and having beaten Russell ten times before they swam against each other that year. Russell briefly matched Spitz's world record at the end of August 1967, holding the same record with Spitz for five days before Spitz regained it only on October 2, 1967. As a result of being beaten by Russell, Spitz could not swim in 4a. â € "The 100 meter medley examination, which gave Russell his second gold medal and USA team, another world record achievement.
College training
Spitz was disappointed with his 1968 Olympic performance. In January 1969, he decided to attend Indiana University to train with the legendary swimming coach Indiana Hoosiers, Doc Counsilman, who is also his Olympic coach in Mexico City. He calls Indiana and Counsilman "the biggest decision of my life (and) the best." While in Indiana, Spitz won eight 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 Swimming Swimming Trial. which was held at Chicago's Portage Park in 1972.
He was nicknamed "Mark the Shark" by his teammates.
The 1972 Olympics
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich (West Germany), Spitz again retained his bid for six golds. He's even better, winning seven Olympic gold medals. Furthermore, Spitz set a new world record in each of seven events - 100-meter freestyle (51.22), 200 meters freestyle (1: 52.78), 100 meter butterfly (54.27), butterfly 200-meter crane (2: 00,70), 4ÃÆ' â € "100 meter freestyle relay (3: 26,42), freestyle relay 4ÃÆ'â €" 200 meters (7: 35,78), and a 4- 100 meters (3: 48,16). Initially, Spitz was reluctant to swim the 100-meter freestyle, fearing the gold medal was less than finished. A few minutes before the race, he confessed on the pool deck to Donna de Varona from ABC, "I know I say I do not 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 will fail. "Spitz won by half a blow in a world record time of 51.22 seconds.
Spitz is one of five Olympic athletes to win nine or more career gold medals: Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, and Carl Lewis also have nine; only Phelps won more with 23. Spitz's record of seven Olympic golds in one Olympics was not exceeded until Phelps broke the record at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
During the Munich Massacre by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics, an Israeli traitor, Shaul Ladany, rose and warned American track coach Bill Bowerman, who called on the US Marines to come and protect American swimmers, Spitz and jumper Bill Schmidt.
Retirement
After the Munich Olympics, Spitz retired from the competition despite being still 22 years old.
In 1999 Spitz was ranked No. 33 at ESPN SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes , the only aquatic athlete on the list.
At the age of 41, Spitz attempted a comeback for the 1992 Summer Olympics after filmmaker Bud Greenspan offered him a million dollars if he qualified. Filmed by Greenspan's camera, Spitz did not beat the qualifying limit, though the time was almost as good as (and in some cases better than) the medal winner times 20 years earlier. He's two seconds slower than the qualifying time required in an Olympic court. Dara Torres made a successful Olympic comeback for Summer Games 2008, at the same age as Spitz.
Hall of Fame
- International Swimming Hall of Fame, sworn in 1977.
- International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, sworn in 1979.
- United States Olympic Hall of Fame, sworn in 1983.
- San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, sworn in Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
- National Jewish Museum of Sports Hall of Fame, sworn in 2007.
- City Hall of Long Beach City of Fame, sworn in 2007
- Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame
Movie and TV career
After Spitz retired from the swimming competition at the age of 22, he was run by the William Morris Agency, who tried to take him to the show business while his name was still familiar due to his athletic success.
A poster featuring Spitz wearing his swimsuit and seven gold medals make it the hottest pin-up since Betty Grable.
In Spitz's TV debut, he appeared as himself in a comedy drama as a dentist on Bob Hope's special that aired October 5, 1972. In 1973-74, Spitz appeared on TV The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour . In the TV drama Emergency! , he plays Pete Barlow, who accidentally shot his wife (played by Spitz's wife, Suzy). He also appeared briefly at The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast from Governor-later of California Ronald Reagan in September 1973.
Spitz started working for ABC Sports in 1976 and worked in many sports presentations, including coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1985 he appeared as a TV broadcaster in Challenge of a Lifetime. He continued as a broadcaster for some time, but in a few years, he was hardly seen as a public figure except perhaps as a commentator for swimming events like the 2004 Summer Olympics. Instead, Spitz focused on his real estate firm in Beverly Hills and a hobby like sailing.
Critical praise
In 2006, he received critical acclaim for his narrative of Freedom's Fury, a Hungarian documentary about the famous Polo Water Polo team blood game Team in the Water against the Soviet Union during the 1956 Revolution - considered the most famous match in history water polo. The film is an executive produced by Quentin Tarantino and Lucy Liu, and debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Ads
He appeared in an ad for the California Milk Advisory Board. One of his print ads shows "I always drink it - it's something I like, I want to be loved by mothers."
In 1974 he was in a number of razor shaft ads. In 1998 she appeared with Evel Knievel in TV commercials for the 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 seven Olympic medals (winning between 1996 and 2004). The ad was titled "Shock". Also, in 2007 he appeared in infomercials for fitness exercise "Orbitrek Elite".
In 2012, Spitz appeared in an ad for Ageless Male, a testosterone supplement.
Personal life
Family life
When Spitz returned from the Olympics, he began dating Suzy Weiner, a theater student and part-time model UCLA, who is also the daughter of one of his father's business acquaintances. Less than a year after the Munich Olympics, they married on May 6, 1973, in traditional Jewish service at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They have two sons, Matthew (born October 1981) and Justin (born September 1991). Justin is a member of the Stanford pool team.
Education
From 1964 to 1968, Spitz studied at Santa Clara High School. After graduation he went to Indiana University. At Indiana University from 1968 to 1972, he was a pre-dental student and member of the Phi Kappa Psi Brotherhood. Time Magazine asked him if he wanted to go back to medical school after the Olympics. "I've always wanted to be a dentist since I was in high school, and I was admitted to a dental school in the spring of 1972. I plan to leave, but after the Olympics there's another chance I do some television and talk engagement, and stuff only go from there. "
Post-swim career
In 1972, soon after returning to the United States, Spitz got some profitable corporate support contracts. It generates about $ 7 million over a two-year period. However, as the memory of his performance subsides, so does his promotional offer and offer. When his support faded, he started a successful real estate company in Beverly Hills. He bought a Ferrari and said he earned more than $ 1 million. "A million dollars in 1972 would be worth more than $ 10 million today," Spitz said. "I did very well, thank you very much." "I would say I was a pioneer.No one went to the Olympics before me who took advantage of the same way on occasion.It depends on the time, it depends on the hype, it depends on the economy, and most importantly" It depends on the appearance. I mean, I've never seen a bad magazine. That's our society. I'm not saying it's true. It's just a fact. "
Per his official website, Spitz is an entrepreneur as a company spokesperson and motivational speaker. However, Yahoo Sports list of jobs as stockbrokers and motivational speakers. According to a recent interview "Spitz became a stockbroker in 2002 and has since moved into private equity and is now in the" water business, "as he called it, and is negotiating to build a water bottling facility in aquifer. which he and his business partner have.
He has been pursuing various entrepreneurial projects with former NBA player Rick Barry. He traveled the world giving about 25 lectures a year. His biography, Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion by Richard J. Foster, was released in July 2008.
In July 2012 he endorsed Istanbul's bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Hobbies
His hobbies include sailing, skiing, and collecting art.
Mustache famous during the Olympics
In an era when other swimmers, men and women, were shaving body hair, she swam with a mustache. When asked why he originally grew up, he stated, "I planted a mustache because a coach at college said I could not plant it." Spitz says he originally grew a mustache as a form of rebellion against the clean look he was wearing 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 his mustache was "a piece of luck."
Mark Spitz was quoted as saying, "When I went to the Olympics, I had the intention to shave his mustache, but I realized that I got a lot of comments about it - and everyone was talking about it - that I decided to save it.I had fun with a Russian coach who asked me if my mustache slowed me down, I said, 'No, the fact is, it diverts water from my mouth, lets my back up and makes me shaped like a bullet in the water, and that's what allows me to swim so big.' He translates as fast as that he can for other coaches, and next year every Russian swimmer with a mustache. "
According to the Sports Illustrated article, on February 14, 1988, after talking about shaving his mustache for a year, he finally did. "He looks great with it, make no mistake," explains his wife Suzy, "but he looks very handsome without it."
When asked why he shaved it, he replied, "well, one, I no longer swim; two, start turning gray, and three, my wife has never seen me, or my family, without a mustache." I'm happy [without it]. "He also commented on his mustache in a live interview in the studio with KCRA who hosted Mike TeSelle on June 14, 2008, Spitz stated that he no longer maintains his iconic mustache because it has become" too gray. "
Health issues
After his retirement, Spitz was diagnosed with acid reflux disease, a condition his doctor said he suffered throughout his career. "During my Olympic training, I linked the symptoms of acid reflux to chlorine overexposure and ate too quickly before and after swimming," Spitz said. "It was not until symptoms began to hinder the 1976 Olympic broadcasting career in Montreal, which is four years after retirement that I suspect something more serious must happen."
He also reported having high cholesterol and other chronic health problems. "People do not believe that I have high cholesterol, but that's a fact," Spitz says. "I take medicine every day because my doctor told me that diet and exercise are not enough to lower my cholesterol." He is a paid spokesperson for Medco, a pharmaceutical benefit management company.
Olympic Controversy
podium medal events 1972
In 1972, Spitz was accused of product placement during the medal ceremony. After a 200-meter freestyle race, Spitz arrived to get his gold medal barefoot and carry his shoes. He put it when the American anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" is played. After the national anthem was played, he took his shoes and waved to the crowd. The Soviets saw this as a product placement. When questioned by the IOC, Spitz explained that his attitude was innocent, the shoes were old and he was not paid. The IOC cleansed it of any error.
Problems with the 2008 Summer Olympics
Spitz felt harassed for not being asked to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics to witness the efforts of Michael Phelps to break his record seven gold medals. In an article, he was quoted as saying, "I was never invited.You do not go to the Olympics just to say, I will go, especially because who am I... I will sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? It almost underestimates me.It's not nearly - that. "
Spitz has stated that he does not have a harsh feeling towards Phelps. He was, however, unhappy that he was not invited to the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a result, Spitz refused to attend the match. "They chose me as one of the top five Olympians of all time, some of them dead, but they invited others to go to the Olympics but not me," he said. "Yeah, I'm kind of upset about that."
However, on August 14, 2008, Spitz appeared on NBC's Today Show where he clarified his statements and his pride at Michael Phelps:
It is time for others to take the throne. And I am very happy for him. I really, really... I work with corporate sponsors who choose not to bring their US contingent to China, and they pile up more work for me here in the United States, which is great. So I can not go to the Olympics and watch Michael in the first few days. And they think, some of these journalists, that I should have been invited by some entity, and I told them that it did not really happen, it did not happen that way. So I was a bit disappointed because I was not there, but, you know, the interview somehow took a different turn, and I have done hundreds and hundreds of them and I have been right to shape about the way I feel about Michael, and he doing a great job for the United States and inspiring many great performances by other team members.
Also on August 14, 2008, in an interview broadcast on the Los Angeles KNBC-4 morning news show, Today in LA, Spitz says he believes 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's performance in 100 flies in Beijing was "epic". Spitz gave this praise to Phelps just two hours after winning his seventh gold medal during a live interview with Bob Costas:
You know, Bob and Michael, I wonder what I will say at this monumental moment, when it will happen and who I will say, and of course I think I will tell you for some time now. But, that's the word that comes to mind, "epic". What you do tonight is epic, and it's epic for the whole world to see how great you really are. I never thought for a moment that you were out of that race and quarrel, because I saw you in Athens winning the race with the same margin, and 18 months ago in the World with the same margin. And, you know, it is a tribute to your greatness. And now the whole world knows. We are very proud of you, Michael, here in America, and we are very proud of you and how you handle yourself, and you represent the inspiration for all young people around the world. You know, you are not born when I do what I do, and I believe that I am part of your inspiration, and I consider it a full compliment. And they say that you judge a person's character by the company you keep, and I'm happy to stay with you. And you have tremendous responsibility for everyone you will inspire over the next few years, and I know that you will wear the crown well. Congratulations, Mike.
By 2015, Spitz allegedly claimed that he had seen an email from Omega, the official timekeeper, that Phelps had lost the contested final butterfly in 2008. He later claimed that his quote had been "misinterpreted".
Views on drug testing
Mark Spitz has been consistent in criticism of both world swimming bodies, FINA and IOC, in their incomplete efforts to prevent drugs from getting out of the sport. He feels that not enough has been done to monitor and encourage drug-free participation. In 1998 he criticized FINA for a "shameful attempt" to remove drug abuse, urging them to test all known drugs. In September 1999 Spitz said the IOC had the technology to test large quantities of drugs but refused to do so because of some IOC member protests.
During a radio interview in Australia, Spitz was quoted as saying "They do not want to test everything because there is tremendous pressure from the television network because they want the television to have an athletic competition with the world record holder there for the finals.They want the medals not to be polluted in the value of their achievement with winning them, and it's all about the rank and sale of commercial time and about money.And the International Olympic Committee has got their hands on the pockets of those television networks, so there is a huge conflict of interest over what they should do and what they do. "
In August 2008, Los Angeles Times reported that Spitz continued to discuss drug testing and said "IOCs have sponsors who demand good performances." The television pays the IOC for the right to good performances, and sponsors also want to do that.The news of drugs and drug disorders is not a good show People will not listen to see athletes having medals taken from them. "
See also
- List of Indiana University (Bloomington) people
- List of some Olympic gold medalists
- List some Olympic gold medalists in one Game
- Selected Jewish swimmer
- List of top Olympic gold medalists in swimming
- The 100 meters butterfly world record
- 100m freestyle world record
- The world record record of 200 meters of butterflies
- 200m freestyle world record record
- 400m freestyle world record
- Progress world record 4 ÃÆ'â € "100 meters medley relay
- Progress world record 4 ÃÆ'â € "200 meters freestyle relay
References
External links
- MarSpitzUSA.com - Mark Sptiz's official website
- Official Mark Spitz Bio
- Mark Spitz ESPN Classic biography
- Mark Spitz in IMDb
- Mark Spitz - Olympic results in databaseOlympics.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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