Mark Spitz

Seven-Medal Olympian

 

The irony was richly bittersweet. The 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, Germany: and just as a black American, Jesse Owens, had humiliated Hitler's race of "supermen" the last time the Germans had hosted the games, this time the brightest of all the athletic stars was an American Jew. And in a tragic twist of fate, Mark Spitz and his phenomenal performance shared the spotlight with the brutal Arab terrorist massacre of eleven Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympic village.

After the murder of the Israelis, Spitz was whisked home to the U.S. under armed guard. Before he left, he stated, "As a human being and as a Jew, I am shocked and saddened by the outrageous act in Olympic village." But the vicious, senseless assassination, a cruel reminder to the world that hatred of the Jews is far from obsolete, did not entirely dim the dazzling and unprecedented achievements of the dark-haired, mustachioed marvel of the swimming world.

At twenty-two years of age, Spitz was rather old by the standards of competitive swimming in 1972; but from the very beginning of his life, he had always had a natural affinity for the water. His parents introduced him to swimming almost as soon as he could walk. Born in California, he was only two when his family moved to Honolulu.