Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Mark Spitz won his seventh gold medal of the Olympics
American swimming gold medalist - Mark Spitz
In 1972, American swimmer Mark Spitz was the new pin-up of sport. He was Hollywood tanned and looked like the perfect All-American boy. He was also one of the most competitive athletes in the world.
The American swim team dominated the pool in the Seventies, but Spitz was on a mission to change the record books forever. At the Munich Olympics in 1972 he won seven gold medals in all four individual events (100M Butterfly, 200M Butterfly, 100M Freestyle, 200M Freestyle), plus the three relays. He won his first gold medal (and set a new world record) in the 200M Butterfly on his first day in the pool. It was just the beginning . . .
More gold medals and more world records followed. The most difficult event for Spitz was the 100M Freestyle. He thought seriously of scratching the race and conserving his energy for the relay medley the following day and achieving six gold medals from six attempts.
He decided to swim the race after all and won. History was made.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment