Matt Biondi

The United States’ Matt Biondi’s total of 11 Olympic medals for swimming matches the Olympic record for swimming first set by Mark Spitz in 1968-72. Biondi first competed at the 1984 Olympic Games, winning a gold medal in the 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay, but he was at his best at the 1988 Games, when he attempted to duplicate Spitz’s Munich performance of seven gold medals. Biondi succeeded in winning seven medals, but failed to win seven golds. His five golds in 1988 came in the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, and all three relays, while he finished second in the 100 metre butterfly and third in the 200 metre freestyle. In 1992, he won two more gold medals in relays, and added a silver in the 50 metre freestyle. Biondi set seven individual world records (three at 50 metre freestyle and four at 100 metre freestyle) and won six gold medals at the World Championships (1986, 1991). In 1986 he won three World Championship gold medals, and added a silver and three bronzes to set a record of seven medals at one World Championship meet (since equaled by Michael Phelps).