[1] At the 1972 Olympics, he had a collapsed lung about a week before the 200-meter freestyle event, possibly brought on by a persistent cough and altitude changes during the cramped plane ride to Munich.

On August 24, only five days prior to his first competition, Genter underwent a relatively minor surgical procedure to reinflate his lung with a tube, but he received thirteen stitches, and spent five days of full rest mostly in bed recovering with a few lung rehabilitation and light torso exercises given to him by his coach Jim Montrella.

Despite his injury, Steve swam a personal best time of 1:53:73, holding off the third-place finisher Werner Lampe by about a quarter of a second.

[9] On September 1, he won a Bronze medal in the 400 meter swim, beating the standing Olympic record in his qualifying heat, though it was not the fastest time of the day.

[3] Genter was engaged to marry Swiss swimmer, national breast stroke champion, and 1972 Olympic Competitor, Erika Ruegg in Long Beach on September 14, 1974.