Today's topic of the week is going to be about the one and the only Mark Spitz! As we all should know, Mark Spitz was the first Michael Phelps. ( Well actually Mark Spitz comes first and Michael Phelps was the second Mark Spitz) Mark Spiz had seven gold medals in one Olympics!
Early LifeMark was born on, February 10 th 1950 in, Modesto, California. His full name given from birth is, Mark Andrew Spitz. Mark's family is Jewish and his grandparents left Hungary after, world war II WW. His parents names are Arnold and Lenore (smith) Spitz. Before he was 10, he held 17 national age group records and had one world record. At the age 14 his family moved to Santa Clara to train with George F. Haines. During his fourth year at Santa Clara High school, Mark held every record in every stroke and distance.
Swimming
Mark Spitz competed at both 1968 and 1972 Olympics. In 1972 he sat a world record for most gold medals received at an Olympic game. (seven gold medals) He set seven world records that year. Unfortunately, Michael Phelps broke that record with eight gold medals, in 2008, Beijing. In 1999, ESPN, announced the 50 top athletes and Mark was the only aquatic one on that list. Sadly, he retired at the age 22.
Hall of Fame
Mark made the international, Jewish sports, United states, San Jose, Long beach, and Indiana University hall of fame.
Thank you for watching my blog on Mark Spitz!
Sources/refrences:
http://www.markspitzusa.com/images/spitz.jpg
http://www.olympicgamesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mark-spitz-7.jpg
http://www.biography.com/people/mark-spitz-9490898
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Spitz
No comments:
Post a Comment