Swimming: Growing Up to the Legend

Swimmer Mark Spitz, then an 18-year-old high school graduate from Santa Clara, Calif., returned from the 1968 Olympics with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze—and a feeling of failure. Goaded by the press corps in Mexico City and supremely self-confident, Spitz had unwisely spoken of winning five or even six gold medals in the freestyle, butterfly, medley and relay events. “I tried not to believe all I was reading about myself, but I wound up believing every word of it,” he says. “After the Olympics, I was more than disappointed. I was downright depressed.”

By now Spitz should have snapped out of it. At last week’s Santa Clara International Invitational Meet, the Indiana University freshman entered three events and tied records in each of them: 1) his own world mark of 55.6 sec. in the 100-meter butterfly; 2) the American record in the 100-meter freestyle (52.6 sec.); 3) Don Schollander’s world mark in the 200-meter freestyle (1 min. 54.3 sec.). Last spring, Spitz’s sweep of three events led Indiana to the N.C.A.A. championship by 121 points. His performances since Mexico City have dispelled any doubt that he is still the world’s premier swimmer.

“Mark is swimming with more confidence than ever before,” says former Olympic Champion Murray Rose. “In the long run, I think those setbacks at Mexico City were good for him.” Maturity may well be the answer to Spitz’s comeback. By the time he was 18, he had won 26 national and international titles, broken ten world and 28 U.S. records. Everyone expected him to replace Schollander, who won four gold medals in 1964, as the U.S. team’s one-man gang in Mexico City. After his disappointing Olympic performance, he underwent some agonizing reappraisals. “I realized that losing can mean something to you,” he reflects. “I decided to leave California and re-establish my goals. I wanted to go through school as somebody, not just an athlete.”

Spitz warded off local recruiters and entered Indiana in February as he turned 19. “My first day,” he recalls, “I walked into a campus store and the fellow behind the counter knew who I was right off. That was a good feeling.” The fellows on the swimming team also knew only too well who Spitz was; his reputation as a taciturn loner had preceded him. But Coach James (“Doc”) Counsilman wisely called his charges together and made sure that they gave Mark a fair shake.

Hitting His Peak. Counsilman’s counsel paid off. “I think the guys on the team liked me right away,” says Mark, “and they avoided talking about the Olympics.” Mark moved into a dormitory with George Smith, another Olympian, pledged Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, earned A’s for attitude as well as in his studies. “It was just a matter of growing up,” says Counsilman. “College has given him the chance to mingle with contemporaries for the first time, and he has turned out to be one of the most popular guys on the team.”

At the rate Spitz is going, Counsilman reckons he may get another chance to stroke for Olympic gold—even though he will be 22, ancient by swimming standards, when the Munich games roll around. Says Counsilman: “He should just be hitting his peak by 1972.” Spitz, of course, wants nothing more than another try. “Everything I do now is geared to 1972,” he says. “I don’t want another Mexico City.”