When Mark Spitz raced to his fifth gold and fifth World record at the Schwimmhalle swimming pool in Munich, a Russian journalist suggested to his American counterpart: “Perhaps the Olympic officials should check Spitz more closely — he may have the genes of a dolphin!”
Spitz wasn’t finished yet. He won two more gold and set two more World records. Seven golds. Seven World records.
Nobody had done something like that in any sport in the Olympics before. Nobody has done anything like that after that. Not even Michael ‘Phenom’ Phelps, who won eight golds in 2008.
What Spitz did in Munich defies belief. It is something you get to see once in decades.
He also ensured that the Games would also be remembered for some right reasons, not just the infamous massacre. Spitz, a Jew, was given special protection during the Olympics.
He was determined to win a gold in every event he participitated, something he could not do four years earlier in Mexico City despite his brash claim.
He had been a bit reluctant to swim the 100m freestyle and told a television channel: “If I swim six and win six, I’ll be a hero. If I swim seven and win six, I’ll be a failure.”
He became a hero, of course. But, he quit competitive sport, soon after. At the age of 22.
“Nobody counted, but I easily swam over 15 million yards and made half a million flip turns in my career,” he said in his biography. “But those kinds of numbers don’t guarantee success.”
Spitz was marked for success from a very early age. He had learnt swimming on the Waikiki beach in Honolulu as a little boy.
As he grew up, he was nicknamed ‘Mark the Shark’. And this shark just ate up the competition.
