Mark Spitz American Athlete Quotations

All things being equal, if we could simulate the same scenario, he has a lot more difficult task. He's elected to swim six individual events, as opposed to what I elected to do, which was four.

The memories of the Munich games for me are of triumph and tragedy.

When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the mustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it - and everybody was talking about it - that I decided to keep it.

If you fail to prepare, you're prepared to fail.

I have a pool at my home that is 12.5 m long, so that if I swim eight laps, I can look at the time and say, that's my time for 100 m.

Goggles were not allowed. A cap was allowed, but I chose not to wear one. I grew the mustache because a coach in college said I couldn't grow one.

To be recognized as great is the culmination of a career, not a specific event. So we will have to wait and see, for Ian Thorpe.

Did I take it all in on the awards stand? The only time I would have done that was my last event, because I was always thinking about the next one.

In my case, when my lifestyle was pretty good - I ate foods low in cholesterol and fat and exercised three or four times a week.