Mark Andrew Spitz

Today's Birthday

1972 Munich Olympic games winner  Mark Spitz

Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competition swimmer, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Spitz set new world records in all seven events in which he competed in 1972, a record that still stands. Since the year 1900, no other swimmer has ever gained so great a percentage of all the medals awarded for Olympic events held in single Games.

Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz won nine Olympic golds plus silver and a bronze, five Pan American golds31 Amateur Athletic Union titles, and eight National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) titles. During those years, he set 35 world records, but two were in trials and unofficial. With his seven-gold medal performance at Munich in 1972, he was the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympic Games until Michael Phelp's eight-gold medal performance at Beijing 36 years later in 2008. He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971 and 1972 by Swimming World Magazine.  He was the third athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals.