Mark Spitz

Mark Andrew Spitz is an American former competition swimmer, ninetime Olympic champion, and former world recordholder in seven events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Spitz set new world records in all seven events in which he competed in 1972, an achievement that still stands. Since the year 1900, no other swimmer has gained so great a percentage of all the medals awarded for Olympic events held in a single Games.

Spitz was born in Modesto, California, the first of three children of Arnold and Lenore Spitz. His family is Jewish, the grandparents left Hungary after World War II. When he was two years old, Spitzs family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he swam at Waikiki beach every day. You should have seen that little boy dash into the ocean. Hed run like he was trying to commit suicide. Lenore Spitz told a reporter for Time . At age six his family returned to Sacramento, California, and he began to compete at his local swim club. At age nine, he was training at Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento with swimming coach Sherm Chavoor, who mentored seven Olympic medal winners including Spitz.

Source: Wikipedia