Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion.

This achievement set a record that lasted for 36 years, until it was surpassed by fellow American Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Spitz was already the holder of ten world records, and he brashly predicted that he would win six gold medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

Spitz also set a number of world records during the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials held in Chicago's Portage Park in 1972.

[citation needed] At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Spitz was back to repeat his quest for the six gold medals.

Minutes before the race, he confessed on the pool deck to ABC's Donna de Varona, "I know I say I don't want to swim before every event, but this time I'm serious.

[18] Spitz is one of seven Olympians (four of them swimmers) to win nine or more career gold medals: Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis, Katie Ledecky, and Caeleb Dressel also have nine;[19] only Michael Phelps has won more, with 23.

[25] At age 41, Spitz attempted a comeback for the 1992 Summer Olympics after filmmaker Bud Greenspan offered him a million dollars if he succeeded in qualifying.

[28] After Spitz retired from competitive swimming at age 22, he was managed by the William Morris Agency, which tried to get him into show business while he was still a household name due to his athletic success.

[38] A poster featuring Spitz wearing his swimsuit and gold medals that led ESPN to retroactively label him "the hottest pin-up since Betty Grable".

[39] In Spitz's TV debut, he appeared as himself in a skit as a dentist on a Bob Hope special that aired October 5, 1972.

In 1973–74, Spitz appeared on TV's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.

He also appeared briefly on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of California Governor Ronald Reagan in September 1973.

He continued as a broadcaster for some time, but within a few years, he was hardly seen as a public figure[39] except perhaps as a commentator for swimming events like the 2004 Summer Olympics.

[44] Then in November 2007, Spitz made a cameo appearance on Amanda Beard's first television commercial (for GoDaddy) featuring her own seven Olympic medals (won between 1996 and 2004).

[48] When Spitz returned from the Olympics, he began dating Suzy Weiner, a UCLA theater student and part-time model, who also was the daughter of one of his father's business acquaintances.

[54][55] After Spitz's return to the United States following the 1972 Olympics, he landed several lucrative corporate endorsement contracts.

[citation needed] Spitz is quoted as saying, "When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the moustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it—and everybody was talking about it—that I decided to keep it.

"[66] When he was asked why he shaved it off, he responded: "Well, one, I'm not swimming anymore; two, it started to turn gray; and three, my wife had never seen me, nor my family, without the moustache ...

After retirement, Spitz was diagnosed with acid reflux disease, a condition from which his physician thinks he suffered throughout his career.

[68] "During my Olympic training, I attributed the symptoms [of acid reflux] to an overexposure to chlorine and eating too soon before and after swimming," says Spitz.

"It wasn't until the symptoms began to get in the way of my 1976 Olympic broadcasting career in Montreal, which was four years after retirement that I suspected something more serious must be happening."

[8] Spitz has said that he felt snubbed by not being asked to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics to watch Michael Phelps attempt to break his seven-gold-medal record: "I never got invited.

[72] However, on August 14, 2008, Spitz appeared on NBC's Today Show where he clarified his statement and his pride in Michael Phelps: It's about time that somebody else takes the throne.

[73]Also on August 14, 2008, in an interview aired on Los Angeles KNBC-4's morning news show, Today in L.A., Spitz was quoted saying he does believe that "Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympic athlete ever.

"[74] On August 15, 2008, as part of an interview on NBC, Spitz said that he felt Phelps's performance in the 100 fly in Beijing was "epic".

[75]In 2015, Spitz allegedly claimed that he had seen an email from Omega, the official timekeeper, that Phelps had lost the closely contested 100m butterfly final in 2008.

[77] Spitz has been consistent in his criticism of the two swimming world bodies, FINA and the IOC, in their incomplete attempts to keep drugs out of the sport.

And an International Olympic Committee has got their hand in the pockets of the network television people, so there's a tremendous conflict of interest in what they should do and what they're doing.

"[79] In August 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported that Spitz continued to discuss drug testing and was saying "the IOC has sponsors who demand a good show.