Munich 1972


Golden Spitz
September 1972: Mark Spitz faces the press, after a medal presentation at the Olympic Games in Munich. He won seven gold medals for swimming in the Games. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)


Mark Spitz At 1972 Summer Olympics
American swimmer Mark Spitz carries his towel and jacket back to Olympic Village after setting a world record in the 4x200m freestyle relay to win his fifth gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics, Munich, West Germany, September 1, 1972. Spitz went on to win a total of seven gold medals, a record for one Olympic Games, all in world record time. (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images)


70 Mark Spitz USA action
1972: Mark Spitz of the USA in action at the 1972 Olympics Games in Munich, Germany. Spitz achieved medal winning fame at these Munich Games where he won seven golds, the highest any Olympic Competitor has won for any sport at single Games. He took both freestyle sprint titles together with the butterfly stroke at these distances, with the others medals in sprints and relays. He set world records on 26 occasions in individual events and was expected to win at least six golds at Mexico in 1968, but after a few defeats his confidence was shattered and he took only siver and bronze from an exhausting programme. Twenty years on, he tried to recapture his youth by challenging for a place in the American Olympic team in Barcelona, but was unable to cope with the new high standards. Mandatory Credit: Tony Duffy/Allsport


SHANE GOULD OF AUSTRALIA
Undated: Swimmer Shane Gould of Australia in action at the 1972 Olympics in Munch, Germany. Gould reached her Everest in swimming at exactly the right time, winning three gold medals at the Munich Olympics Games and setting world records in each. Moreover she showed the fibre to overcome the disappointment of defeat: in those Games she lost her second final, the 100 metres free style, but won the 400 metres free style the following day. Altogether, she swam twelve races in eight days. All this before her sixteenth birthday, by which time she was becoming disenchanted with the training demands the sport made to maintain her high positon. She retired less than a year later. Her career must be among the most successful and shortest in any sport for her international competition was crammed into less than three years. Mandatory Credit: Tony Duffy/Allsport
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