American swimmer Mark Spitz became a legend after his
performance at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich. But much of the media
attention was focused on his facial hair. Mark had broken multiple world records
at the 1972 US Olympic swim trials earlier in the year. He’d planned to shave
his mustache before the Olympics started. (Swimmers often shave their entire
bodies to reduce friction in the water. In the 70’s, many shaved their heads as
well.) But during Mark’s last training session, a coach for the Russian swim
team approached him and asked, “Doesn’t your mustache slow you down?” As a
joke, Mark replied that his whiskers deflected water from his mouth and
actually helped him swim faster. To keep the joke going, he left the mustache
where it was. He went on to win seven gold medals at the Munich games. At the 1976
games in Montreal, the entire Russian swim team showed up with mustaches.
No comments:
Post a Comment