Editing Mark Spitz (section)

==Early life==
Spitz was born on February 10, 1950, in [[Modesto, California]], the eldest of three children<ref name="JVL-Spitz-bio">{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Spitz.html |title=Mark Spitz |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=June 25, 2024}}</ref> of Lenore Sylvia ({{nee}} Smith) and Arnold Spitz. His family is [[Jewish]]; his father's family was from Hungary,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/Nathan-Spitz/6000000016836529188 | title=Nathan Spitz | date=May 4, 2022 }}</ref> and his mother's, originally surnamed Sklotkovick, was from Russia.<ref name="transcripts.cnn.com">{{cite news| url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1207/14/pmt.01.html | work=CNN | title=Interview with Mark Spitz|date=July 14, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Foster, Richard J. |title=Mark Spitz: The Extraordinary Life of an Olympic Champion |url=https://archive.org/details/markspitzextraor00fost_0 |url-access=registration |date=2008 |publisher=Santa Monica Press |isbn=978-1-59580-999-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/markspitzextraor00fost_0/page/15 15]}}</ref><ref>Lajos, Szabó (January 2010) [http://www.kaleidoscopehistory.hu/index.php?subpage=cikk&cikkid=29 What are the reasons for the success of so many Hungarian Jewish Athletes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214123004/http://www.kaleidoscopehistory.hu/index.php?subpage=cikk&cikkid=29 |date=December 14, 2018 }}. kaleidoscopehistory.hu</ref> When he was two years old, his family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he swam at [[Waikiki]] beach every day. "You should have seen that little boy dash into the ocean. He'd run like he was trying to commit suicide," Lenore Spitz told a reporter for ''Time'' in 1968.<ref name="JVL-Spitz-bio"/> When he was six, the family returned to [[Sacramento, California]], and he began to compete at his local swim club. At age nine, he was training at Arden Hills Swim Club in Sacramento with swimming coach [[Sherm Chavoor]], who mentored six other Olympic medal winners.<ref name=Chavoor>Chavoor, Sherm, with Introduction by Mark Spitz, ''The 50-meter Jungle'', (1973) Coward, McCann, Geoghegan, Inc., Longman Canada Limited Publishers, Toronto, Library of Congress 73-78763,  pg. 30-40</ref>

At 10, Spitz held one world age-group record and 17 national records.<ref name="expectations">{{cite web|last=Roberts|first=M. B.|title=Spitz lived up to enormous expectations|work=ESPN|url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016480.html|access-date=September 25, 2016}}</ref> When Spitz was 14, his family moved to [[Santa Clara, California|Santa Clara]], where he joined the [[Santa Clara Swim Club]] and was trained by coach [[George F. Haines]].<ref name="expectations"/> From 1964 to 1968, Spitz trained with Haines at SCSC and [[Santa Clara High School (Santa Clara, California)|Santa Clara High School]]. During his four years there, Spitz held national high school records in every stroke and in every distance.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}} In 1966 at age 16, he won the 100-meter butterfly at the AAU national championships, the first of his 24 total AAU titles. The following year, Spitz emerged on the world swimming stage when he set his first world record at a small California meet with a time of 4:10.60 in the 400-meter freestyle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santaclaraswimclub.org/alumni/spitzUpdate.html |title=Santa Clara Swim Club. Alumni: Spitz |publisher=Santaclaraswimclub.org |date=November 14, 2007 |access-date=January 30, 2011}}</ref>