Editing Mark Spitz (section)

==Personal life==

===Family life===
[[File:Mark Spitz and wife 1973.jpg|thumb|Mark Spitz and Suzy Weiner on their wedding day in May 1973]]
[[File:Mark Spitz and Wife with the Fords B1804 (1).jpg|thumb|right|Spitz (far right) and his wife (far left) with President [[Gerald Ford]] and First Lady [[Betty Ford]] in 1976]]
When Spitz returned from the Olympics, he began dating Suzy Weiner, a [[UCLA]] theater student and part-time model, who also was the daughter of one of his father's business acquaintances.<ref name=ESPN/><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/swimming/2004-08-12-spitz-phelps-sidebar-bonus_x.htm | work=USA Today | title=Golden glow still follows Spitz | first1=Vicki | last1=Michaelis | date=August 13, 2004 | access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref> Less than a year after the Munich Olympics, they were married on May 6, 1973,<ref name="imdb.com"/> in a traditional Jewish service at the Beverly Hills Hotel.<ref name="people.com"/> They have two sons, Matthew (born October 1981) and Justin (born September 1991). Justin was a member of the Stanford swim team.<ref name="panasonic.com"/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121108112634/http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-swim/mtt/spitz_justin00.html Justin Spitz]. gostanford.com</ref> Spitz and his wife reside in [[Los Angeles|Los Angeles, California]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pmgsports.com/talent-overview/mark-spitz/ |title=Mark Spitz - Premier Management Group |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116212107/https://www.pmgsports.com/talent-overview/mark-spitz/ |archive-date=January 16, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/mark-spitzs-house/ |title=Mark Spitz's House - Virtual Globetrotting |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923155313/http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/mark-spitzs-house/ |archive-date=September 23, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Education===
At [[Indiana University]] from 1968 to 1972, Spitz was a pre-dental student and member of [[Phi Kappa Psi]] fraternity.  ''Time'' magazine asked him if he wanted to return to dental school after the Olympics. "I always wanted to be a dentist from the time I was in high school, and I was accepted to dental school in the spring of 1972.  I was planning to go, but after the Olympics there were other opportunities.  I did some television and speaking engagements, and things just went from there."<ref name="10Questions">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994874,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902191741/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C994874%2C00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 2, 2006 |first=Alice |last=Park | title=10 Questions For Mark Spitz |magazine=Time  |date=August 16, 2004 |access-date=January 30, 2011}}</ref> Spitz graduated from Indiana University in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/sports-and-games/sports-biographies/mark-andrew-spitz|title=Mark Andrew Spitz &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mark-Spitz|title=Mark Spitz &#124; Biography, Medals, & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=April 9, 2024 }}</ref>

===Post-swimming career===
After Spitz's return to the United States following the 1972 Olympics, he landed several lucrative corporate endorsement contracts.  He earned about $7 million in a two-year period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mark Spitz: Biography |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/mark-spitz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213183437/http://www.answers.com/topic/mark-spitz |archive-date=13 February 2011 |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Answers.com]] |access-date=23 January 2020}}</ref>  "A million dollars in 1972 would be equivalent to more than $10 million today," Spitz said in 2007.  "I did very well, thank you very much."<ref>{{cite news |title=Spitz just can't get away from Phelps |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/sports/AS-SPT-SWM-Worlds-Mark-Spitz.php?page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919035054/http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/26/sports/AS-SPT-SWM-Worlds-Mark-Spitz.php |archive-date=19 September 2008 |url-status=dead |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] |date=March 26, 2007  |access-date=23 January 2020}}</ref> Spitz added, "I would say I was a pioneer. There wasn't anyone who'd gone to the Olympics before me who capitalized the same way on opportunity. It depends on timing, it depends on hype, it depends on the economy, and most importantly, it depends on looks. I mean, I've never seen a magazine of uglies. That's our society. I'm not saying it's right. That's just the facts."<ref>[http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-07-27-0133.html]{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Spitz went on to start a real estate company.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016480.html|title=ESPN.com: Spitz lived up to enormous expectations|website=www.espn.com}}</ref>

Per his official website, Spitz is self-employed as a corporate spokesperson and motivational speaker.  However, Sports Yahoo! lists his occupation as a stock broker and motivational speaker.<ref name=snub>{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=afp-oly2008swimusaspitz&prov=afp&type=lgns |title=Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub |publisher=[[Yahoo! Sports]] |author=Hui, Polly |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080815220118/http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=afp-oly2008swimusaspitz&prov=afp&type=lgns |archive-date=August 15, 2008 }}</ref>  According to one interview, "Spitz became a stockbroker in 2002 and has since moved into private equity.  He is now also dabbling in the 'water business', as he calls it, and is in negotiations to build a water-bottling facility on aquifer-rich land that he and a business partner own."<ref name=SI>{{cite magazine |last=McGarr |first=Elizabeth |date=July 21, 2008 |title=Catching up with Mark Spitz |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/07/01/spitz.cuw/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726173334/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/07/01/spitz.cuw/index.html |archive-date=26 July 2008 |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |access-date=January 30, 2011}}</ref>

Spitz has pursued various entrepreneurial projects with former NBA player [[Rick Barry]].  He travels the world, delivering about 25 lectures a year.  His biography, ''The Extraordinary Life of An Olympic Champion'' by Richard J. Foster, was released in July 2008.<ref>{{cite news| last= Goodman |first=Dean |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSN1935785920080802 |title=Mark Spitz makes splash about Beijing invite |work=Reuters |date= August 2, 2008|access-date=August 16, 2008 }}</ref>

In July 2012, he endorsed [[Istanbul]]'s [[Istanbul bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics|bid]] to host the [[2020 Summer Olympics]], but the award went to [[Tokyo]].<ref>Mackay, Duncan (July 16, 2012) [http://www.insidethegames.biz/sports/2020-bidding-sports/17731-olympic-legend-backs-istanbul-2020 "Olympic legend backs Istanbul 2020"]. insidethegames.biz</ref>

===Hobbies===
His hobbies include sailing, skiing and collecting art.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/sports/2004/aug/10oly-swim1.htm |title=Olympic Legends: Mark Spitz |work=Rediff.com |date=August 10, 2004 |access-date=January 30, 2011}}</ref>

===Famous moustache during Olympics===
In an era when other swimmers, male and female, were shaving body hair, he swam with a moustache. When asked why he initially grew one, he stated: "I grew the moustache because a coach in college said I couldn't grow one."<ref name="10Questions"/> Spitz said he originally grew the moustache as a form of rebellion against the clean-cut look imposed on him in college. "It took a long time to grow," he said.  It took four months to grow, but Spitz was proud of it, and decided the moustache was a "good-luck piece".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.mercurynews.com/pizarro/2007/11/18/mark-spitz-reveals-the-story-behind-his-mustache/ |title=Mark Spitz reveals the story behind his mustache, Around Town |publisher=Blogs.mercurynews.com |date=November 18, 2007 |access-date=January 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012012254/http://blogs.mercurynews.com/pizarro/2007/11/18/mark-spitz-reveals-the-story-behind-his-mustache/ |archive-date=October 12, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 

Spitz is quoted as saying, "When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the moustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it—and everybody was talking about it—that I decided to keep it. I had some fun with a Russian coach who asked me if my moustache slowed me down. I said, 'No, as a matter of fact, it deflects water away from my mouth, allows my rear end to rise and make me bullet-shaped in the water, and that's what had allowed me to swim so great.'
According to a ''Sports Illustrated'' article, on February 14, 1988, after talking about shaving off his moustache for a year, he finally did. "He looked great with it, don't get me wrong," explained his wife Suzy, "but he looks so handsome without it."<ref>{{cite news| title=Catching up with Mark Spitz | url= http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/07/01/spitz.cuw/index.html?eref=si_topstories | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091001014317/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/07/01/spitz.cuw/index.html?eref=si_topstories | url-status= dead | archive-date= October 1, 2009 |work=CNN| date=July 21, 2008 | access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref>

When he was asked why he shaved it off, he responded: "Well, one, I'm not swimming anymore; two, it started to turn gray; and three, my wife had never seen me, nor my family, without the moustache ...  I'm happy [without it]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsday.com/sports/mark-spitz-talks-about-his-mustache-and-michael-phelps-1.881390|title=Mark Spitz talks about his mustache (and Michael Phelps) |publisher=newsday.com|author=Dickstein, Max J. |date=July 15, 2008}}</ref>  He also commented on his moustache in a live, in-studio interview with [[KCRA]] host Mike TeSelle on June 14, 2008, with Spitz stating that he no longer maintains his iconic moustache because it had become "too gray".

===Health issues===
After retirement, Spitz was diagnosed with [[Gastroesophageal reflux disease|acid reflux disease]], a condition from which his physician thinks he suffered throughout his career.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/11653.php |title=Mark Spitz expresses health issues he faced while achieving Olympic dreams |publisher=Medicalnewstoday.com |access-date=January 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115025742/http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/11653.php |archive-date=January 15, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> "During my Olympic training, I attributed the symptoms [of acid reflux] to an overexposure to chlorine and eating too soon before and after swimming," says Spitz.  "It wasn't until the symptoms began to get in the way of my 1976 Olympic broadcasting career in Montreal, which was four years after retirement that I suspected something more serious must be happening."

He has also reported having high cholesterol and other chronic health issues.<ref>{{cite web |author=Schneiderman, Matt |date=August 1, 2008 |url=http://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-disease/cholesterol/understanding/mylife/mark_spitz/landing.aspx |title=Nearly 20 years ago, while preparing for an Olympic comeback, the decorated swimmer discovered he had high cholesterol – and he's never let it slow him down |publisher=everydayhealth.com |access-date=August 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080901161418/http://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-disease/cholesterol/understanding/mylife/mark_spitz/landing.aspx |archive-date=September 1, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  "People don't believe that I have high cholesterol, but it's a fact," said Spitz.  "I take medication every day because my doctor told me that diet and exercise are not enough to keep my cholesterol down."  He is a paid spokesperson for [[Medco Health Solutions|Medco]], a [[pharmacy benefit management]] company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/15897.asp |title=Lane 9 News Archive: Industry News: Mark Spitz, Greg Louganis Join Tour of Champions to Educate Americans on Health Care |publisher=Swimmingworldmagazine.com |access-date=January 30, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404192201/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/15897.asp |archive-date=April 4, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>