Swimming at the 1972 München Summer Games:

Mark Spitz was the best swimmer in the world in 1971. The 100 metre butterfly was his best event – you do the math. Spitz had set six of the last seven world records in the 100 fly, including two at the US Trials in August. By the day of the 100 fly final, he had already won three gold medals in Munich, in his quest to sweep seven events. The final was all Spitz. He started out at world record pace (25.38 to the wall), and increased it, winning in 54.27, a full 1.29 seconds ahead of Canada’s [Bruce Robertson]. Spitz had his fourth gold medal and his fourth world record in Munich. There were 38 other swimmers in this event, and seven other finalists – nobody noticed. Later on the same day, Spitz would swim in the final of the 4 x 200 freestyle relay, winning his fifth gold medal.