Mark Spitz (eBook)

Summer of 1959

A LANKY NINE-year-old boy, equipped with ocean trunks, a few weeks of simple workouts, and even fewer expectations, stepped on the starting blocks at a YMCA swim meet, it was hisfirst experience with organized sports. He crossed the pooland touched the opposite wall first in his heat of the twentyfive-yard race.

As the youngster watched the remaining heats, his coach explained that there would be no final, the winners would be the boys who swam the six fastest times in the heats. During the awards ceremony, the young swimmer swelled with pride at the sound of his name and strode forward with great satisfaction toaccept his purple ribbon, mistaken about what it signified. He hurried to show off the colorful cloth to his naturally pleased mother, who rewarded him further with a congratulatory hug and kiss on the forehead.

But the timed-heat contest had included almost forty other competitors. In the slow pace at which realization sometimes strikes youngsters, the boy became aware that the presentation had not ended. When three others stepped up on a tri-tiered podium and received white, red, and blue ribbons, he peered up at his mother with a growing sense of uneasiness.

'Why are their ribbons different colors?' he asked, his gleeyielding to doubt.

'Well, those boys had the fastest times of everyone in the race,' she explained. 'The one on the highest step swam the fastest, so he got a blue ribbon. The boy with the red ribbon was second, and the boy with the white ribbon was third.'

A scowl immediately appeared on her son's face, and he threwhis ribbon on the ground in disgust. 'I hate purple, I hate red, and I hate white! From now on, I'm only winning blue ribbons.'

Within a year, Mark Spitz had set seventeen national agegroup records, and his seven goldmedals in seven world records thirteen years later at the 1972 Munich Olympics was the most impressive showing ever at anOlympic Games. The initial splash of his career as the world's greatest swimmer was eclipsed in history by Alaska and Hawai'i joining the United States, FidelCastro taking control of Cuba, and Charles Lincoln Van Doren admitting that his winnings on the popular TV quiz show $64,000 Question were rigged. But his maiden competitive voyage, in which he shunned the new-fangled and scanty Speedo briefs-finding them goofy-looking at best and transparent fromcertain angles at worst-hardly inspired the likeness of a legend.

Eventually, though, Mark-with his unprecedented success in the pool, unfailing confidence, and movie-star looks-would shine as brightly as the countless flashbulbs that accompaniedhis athletic performances and public appearances.

That self-assurance in his abilities, his strong-headed personality, and the inevitable attention lavished on him as his confidence and conquests continued to feed off each other, though, came with a painful price. He was ostracized, ignored, and discriminated against by jealous, psyched-out, and constantly defeated teammates and their parents. He butted heads with demanding coaches who attempted to exact their control over the sensation, wanting credit for his success.He floundered as an entertainer, fighting against unrealistic expectations for a swimmer whose audition for the part had been to swim eight to ten miles a day, win races, and sign autographs. But perhaps most hurtful and confusing were the observation, analysis, and subsequent disdain of his father's image in the press: aggressive,overbearing, and obsessed with his son's athletic prowess. But those who knew Arnold best told a different story, and it started years before his son's birth.