Courtesy of Corbis-Bettmann

Mark Spitz b. 1950

At the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, 15-year-old Mark Spitz won four gold medals at his first international swimming competition and was named Most Outstanding Athlete. Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz set 33 world records. At the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, he became the first athlete to win seven gold medals in an Olympiad. Spitz was evacuated from Munich when 11 people from Israel's Olympic team were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian terrorists. Spitz was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969, 1971, and 1972. After the 1972 Olympics, Spitz withdrew from active competition and went into business and movies.