Swimming · 1972 · Munich, West Germany
Seven Golds, Seven World Records
Mark Spitz enters seven events at the 1972 Munich Olympics and wins all seven, in world-record time each time, a haul that stood alone for 36 years.
7 (all events entered)
Gold medals
7
World records set
36 years
Record stood
Mark Spitz went to Munich already an Olympic medallist from 1968, and with a reputation for having fallen short of his own hype at those Games. In 1972 he entered seven events, four individual and three relays, won every single one, and set a new world record in each race.
The sweep took eight days: the 100m and 200m freestyle, the 100m and 200m butterfly, and the 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley relays. No athlete had won seven gold medals at a single Olympics before. He finished days before the terrorist attack on the Israeli team overshadowed everything else about those Games.
The record stood for 36 years, until Michael Phelps won eight in Beijing in 2008. Spitz was also among the first American swimmers to become a genuine global celebrity, which is the other thing Munich did for him.
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