The Munich Olympics 1972 Mark Spitz was a new man with a new look but surely no dignified swimmer would sport something so unstring lined one Russian journalist had the nerve to ask why the next question was what about the mustache you’re going to shave it off I don’t know why I said this I said no it doesn’t slow me down,
I said it deflects the water away from my mouth it allows my head to get a lot lower and more streamlined my behind actually up and so that’s why I was able to break the world record at the Olympic Trials in Chicago three weeks before the guy looked at mean hesitated and he translated as fast as he could into Russian all male Russian swimmers the next year had a mustache and I decided on the spot I’m not shaving it off Spitz had a bold aim to match his new look to win seven gold medals,
But he had overreached himself in Mexico could he handle the pressure of Olympic competition this time during the time you’re practicing and training it’s80% physical and 20% mental but for some reason when it comes time when the gun goes off then it’s just the opposite it’s 80% mental and only 20% physical over eight days Mark Spitz would compete in14 races an immense challenge and time by the way was totally irrelevant to any of these swims it was strictly just to swim pace myself don’t expend a lot more energy than it’s necessary and swim to get the gold medal- six 57 58 59.
This time everything went according to plan that race was the beginning everything else sort of fit into place wasn’t that difficult matter of fact it was relatively easy in the one and two hundred butterfly the 200 freestyle and two relays Mark Spitz beat all comers I’m going to dental school maybe I’ll hang him in my dental office I don’t know right now I’ve still got some he left but the hundred meters freestyle was his weakest event and he’d be racing Olympic champion Australian Michael Wende Michael went and had this tremendous amount of raw speed in this tremendous crazy wind-up windmill stroke,
That was extremely scared of his speed just when everything was going his way Mark Spitz lost his nerve he considered dropping out of the biggest race of his life it made more sense to get six gold medals out of six tries then all of a sudden a third or fourth or maybe not even medal in the hundred free addendum had beaten him in the heats he’d had the bad luck to draw him beating him in the semis he drew him again and head he was psyched out the pressure if his Olympic campaign was finally getting to him it was down to his coach to try and persuade him otherwise and he said I’m going to tell you something they’re going to call you chicken if you don’t swim you are the world-recordholder and the premier.
Olympic swimming event#
Olympic swimming event is the hundred freestyle so if somebody else wins the hunter 3 thereon be known as the fastest swimmer in the world it’s like the hundred – in track and field I mean you’re known as the fastest athlete doesn’t matter who won the marathon doesn’t matter who won the steeplechase doesn’t matter all those other events you’re the fastest person in the world in track you’re the fastest person in swimming you’ve got towing that event and you’re the world-record holder Bob Mark Spitz has already made an epic history with five gold medals can he make it six and all-time record for the Olympic Games.
there is the man two lengths of the birds the final of the men’s 100 meters freestyle the prepared at the Olympic Games defending Olympic champion Michael wended in lanes even had his own demons without making excuses I think that there was the expectation from everyone that I would be repeating what happened four years previously Mark Spitz biggest rival soon fell out of contention and the expectations can residing in your mind they can play havoc and it’s just those expectations that made a difference I’m just glad that the race ended exactly boom right there you know about1/2 a stroke left zero gas left in my tank that was it that last stroke was a hundred percent right up into that last stroke I could hardly get out of the water spits not only one gold he took a second of Wendell’s 1968 world record the following day Spitz completed his haul of seven gold medals he broke world records in every single one for Spitz to achieve what he did in 72 was remarkable something that still ranks right up there in terms of world achievement.
1972 decoration platform occurrence#
In 1972, Spitz was blamed for item arrangement during the award function. Following his triumph in the 200-meter free-form, Mark Spitz conveyed his shoes and showed up shoeless to acquire his gold award. He put them down as the American public song of praise, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played. After the song of praise, he got his shoes and waved to the group. The Soviets considered this to be item situation. When addressed by the IOC, Spitz clarified that the motion was honest, the shoes were old and he was not paid. The IOC got him free from any bad behavior.
Medical problems#
After retirement, Mark Spitz was determined to have indigestion illness, a condition from which his doctor thinks he endured all through his profession. “During my Olympic preparing, I ascribed the indications [of corrosive reflux] to an overexposure to chlorine and eating too early previously, then after the fact swimming,” says Spitz. “It wasn’t until the manifestations started to hinder my 1976 Olympic telecom vocation in Montreal, which was four years after retirement that I speculated something more genuine should occur.”
Hobbies#
His hobbies include sailing, skiing and collecting art.
Day to day life#
Imprint Spitz and Suzy Weiner on their big day in May 1973
Mark Spitz (extreme right) and his better half (extreme left) with President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford in 1976
At the point when Spitz got back from the Olympics, he started dating Suzy Weiner, a UCLA theater understudy and low maintenance model, who likewise was the girl of one of his dad’s business acquaintances. Less than a year after the Munich Olympics, they were hitched on May 6, 1973, in a customary Jewish assistance at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They have two children, Matthew (conceived October 1981) and Justin (conceived September 1991). Justin was an individual from the Stanford swimming club. Spitz and his better half dwell in Los Angeles, California.
Retirement#
Following the Munich Olympics, Spitz resigned from the opposition despite the fact that he was just 22 years of age.
At age 41, Mark Spitz endeavored a rebound for the 1992 Summer Olympics after producer Bud Greenspan offered him 1,000,000 dollars on the off chance that he prevailed with regards to qualifying. Spitz’s rebound endeavor made the front of Parade and was additionally written about in Sports Illustrated and Esquire. Recorded by Greenspan’s cameras, Spitz was two seconds more slow than the Olympic norm and neglected to qualify.
