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Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion
Mark Spitz is arguably the most famous and successful Olympic athlete of all time because of his legendary performances at the 1972 Olympics, where he won seven gold medals while breaking seven world records. His amazing life story is told for the first time in the authorized biography Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion .
This exclusive account follows Spitz’s roller-coaster career: age-group prodigy, four-medal "flop" at the 1968 Olympics, outstanding collegiate career at Indiana University, gold-medal haul in 1972, lucrative endorsements, and a brief and unsuccessful stint in entertainment.
And the meatier stories—the role his father played in his career, his often stormy relationship with coaches and teammates, his experiences as a Jewish athlete with anti-Semitism and the Munich massacre, his impact on the commercialization of swimming, his relationship with Michael Phelps, and others—have been largely unknown, ignored, barely touched upon, or distorted.
Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion provides insights into Spitz’s career, behind-the-scenes anecdotes about him and his competitors, and untold stories that shed light on his complicated personality and relationship with his father. Old and new fans alike will appreciate the depth and details of this swimming icon’s story.
This exclusive account follows Spitz’s roller-coaster career: age-group prodigy, four-medal "flop" at the 1968 Olympics, outstanding collegiate career at Indiana University, gold-medal haul in 1972, lucrative endorsements, and a brief and unsuccessful stint in entertainment.
And the meatier stories—the role his father played in his career, his often stormy relationship with coaches and teammates, his experiences as a Jewish athlete with anti-Semitism and the Munich massacre, his impact on the commercialization of swimming, his relationship with Michael Phelps, and others—have been largely unknown, ignored, barely touched upon, or distorted.
Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion provides insights into Spitz’s career, behind-the-scenes anecdotes about him and his competitors, and untold stories that shed light on his complicated personality and relationship with his father. Old and new fans alike will appreciate the depth and details of this swimming icon’s story.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 20, 2023
Oct 19, 330pm ~~ Review asap.
815pm ~~ I remember seeing Mark Spitz on television during the 1972 Munich Olympics, so of course I knew about him, at least the swimming part. In this book I learned a lot of things about the man that I never even thought about until reading the book over the phone with Marco.
For example I did not know that he participated in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. I know I watched them because like nearly every other little girl of the day, I idolized Cathy Rigby, who was the star in Gymnastics that year. I only remember a few other things about the '68 Olympics, but Mark Spitz definitely was not one of them. After all, I was only ten at the time, how could I keep track of everybody? lol
This book was interesting because it made Mark Spitz seem more like a real person to me rather than an image in the pool on television the way he had been most of my life. It was also interesting to learn that he had such a great technique that he was fairly lazy about training. He trained back in the day when one of the main techniques was to have the athlete swim hours of laps and more laps. Great for building endurance, and for the swimmers participating in the longer events, but Mark was a sprinter so he tried everything he could to get out of all those hours of boring pool work.
I have to confess to something which might sound odd, but I had no idea that Spitz is Jewish until I read this book. And I was shocked that his very first reaction to the hostage situation in Munich was to wonder if he would be kidnapped next. The terrorists were there specifically for the Israeli team members, not random Jewish athletes, no matter how well known they might have been. But an even bigger surprise was the lack of security at those Games. In our day it would be a great deal harder for such a thing to happen. I hope.
One problem I had with the book's style was that it felt at times like reading a statistics report. I think there were only a couple of super emotional pages, and a few other places where we had to stop and laugh a bit, but mostly that wow factor was missing for me. And as the reader, I admit that I got mightily tired of saying '100 free, 200 butterfly, 4 x 100 relay' and all the other names of the various races over and over again. When you read silently you can kind of skim over such things after about the third or fourth time but not when reading aloud.
And I think we both got a little bored with the second to last chapter, which talked about meeting politicians and royalty (although I got a kick out of President Clinton being star struck and saying 'Mark Spitz! Mark Spitz!' repeatedly.) Also the last chapter talked a lot about Michael Phelps and how it must have felt to be someone in Mark's position and see that another swimmer had a good chance to break a record set 30 some-odd years earlier. The book was published in 2008, before the Beijing Olympics where Phelps won eight gold medals, so naturally Marco and I knew how that last chapter mystery turned out.
Maybe there was not as much excitement in this book as I had expected, but it was fascinating to get in the pool and really meet a man I had 'known' all of my life. Thank you, Mark Spitz, for the memories, and for being one of the last brute swimmers to participate in the Olympics. My husband Marco will understand what I mean by that.
815pm ~~ I remember seeing Mark Spitz on television during the 1972 Munich Olympics, so of course I knew about him, at least the swimming part. In this book I learned a lot of things about the man that I never even thought about until reading the book over the phone with Marco.
For example I did not know that he participated in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. I know I watched them because like nearly every other little girl of the day, I idolized Cathy Rigby, who was the star in Gymnastics that year. I only remember a few other things about the '68 Olympics, but Mark Spitz definitely was not one of them. After all, I was only ten at the time, how could I keep track of everybody? lol
This book was interesting because it made Mark Spitz seem more like a real person to me rather than an image in the pool on television the way he had been most of my life. It was also interesting to learn that he had such a great technique that he was fairly lazy about training. He trained back in the day when one of the main techniques was to have the athlete swim hours of laps and more laps. Great for building endurance, and for the swimmers participating in the longer events, but Mark was a sprinter so he tried everything he could to get out of all those hours of boring pool work.
I have to confess to something which might sound odd, but I had no idea that Spitz is Jewish until I read this book. And I was shocked that his very first reaction to the hostage situation in Munich was to wonder if he would be kidnapped next. The terrorists were there specifically for the Israeli team members, not random Jewish athletes, no matter how well known they might have been. But an even bigger surprise was the lack of security at those Games. In our day it would be a great deal harder for such a thing to happen. I hope.
One problem I had with the book's style was that it felt at times like reading a statistics report. I think there were only a couple of super emotional pages, and a few other places where we had to stop and laugh a bit, but mostly that wow factor was missing for me. And as the reader, I admit that I got mightily tired of saying '100 free, 200 butterfly, 4 x 100 relay' and all the other names of the various races over and over again. When you read silently you can kind of skim over such things after about the third or fourth time but not when reading aloud.
And I think we both got a little bored with the second to last chapter, which talked about meeting politicians and royalty (although I got a kick out of President Clinton being star struck and saying 'Mark Spitz! Mark Spitz!' repeatedly.) Also the last chapter talked a lot about Michael Phelps and how it must have felt to be someone in Mark's position and see that another swimmer had a good chance to break a record set 30 some-odd years earlier. The book was published in 2008, before the Beijing Olympics where Phelps won eight gold medals, so naturally Marco and I knew how that last chapter mystery turned out.
Maybe there was not as much excitement in this book as I had expected, but it was fascinating to get in the pool and really meet a man I had 'known' all of my life. Thank you, Mark Spitz, for the memories, and for being one of the last brute swimmers to participate in the Olympics. My husband Marco will understand what I mean by that.
October 5, 2008
With all the buzz about swimming caused by Michael Phelps, there have been many side stories about the man who set the record Phelps broke in the Bejing olympics. That man is Mark Spitz. This book does an excellent job of telling the story of Mark's life. The book does not "hold an punches" with regard to Mark's younger days and his arrogance, but it also shows a side of Mark that many people have never seen. For the non-swimmer, the books explains just how amazing a feat it was to win 7 Olympic medals and to break as many records as he did. Well worth a read.
March 5, 2017
I grew up, a swimmer in the 70's, being fascinated with Mark Spitz. I enjoyed this book and learning about him outside the pool and the events before and after the Munich Olympics in 1972. While Michael Phelps broke Mark Spitz's medal record but not the World Record in each event doing so.
November 17, 2018
I wish there had been more about Spitz's swim techniques and comparison with the techniques used by today's competitive swimmers.
November 15, 2021
An excellent read about a tremendous swimmer who was a boyhood hero of mine
I was mesmerised by him when he won gold at the Munich 72 Olympic Games
I was mesmerised by him when he won gold at the Munich 72 Olympic Games
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2025
About the famous Olympic swimmer. Very interesting. Written before Michael Phelps broke his medal total
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews