Matt Biondi

Matt Biondi

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Nicholas Biondi
Nickname(s)	"Matt"
Nationality	United States
Born	October 8, 1965 (1965-10-08) (age 46) Moraga, California
Height	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	Freestyle and butterfly
College team	University of California, Berkeley
Medal record Men’s swimming Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1984 Los Angeles 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 50 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 100 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 4×200 m freestyle Gold 1988 Seoul 4×100 m medley Gold 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m medley Silver 1988 Seoul 100 m butterfly Silver 1992 Barcelona 50 m freestyle Bronze 1988 Seoul 200 m freestyle World Championships (LC) Gold 1986 Madrid 100 m freestyle Gold 1986 Madrid 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1986 Madrid 4×100 m medley Gold 1991 Perth 100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Perth 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Perth 4×100 m medley Silver 1986 Madrid 100 m butterfly Silver 1991 Perth 50 m freestyle Bronze 1986 Madrid 50 m freestyle Bronze 1986 Madrid 200 m freestyle Bronze 1986 Madrid 4×200 m freestyle Pan Pacific Games Gold 1985 Tokyo 50 m freestyle Gold 1985 Tokyo 100 m freestyle Gold 1985 Tokyo 4×200 m freestyle Gold 1985 Tokyo 4×100 m medley Gold 1987 Brisbane 100 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 4×100 m medley Gold 1987 Brisbane 4×200 m freestyle Gold 1989 Tokyo 4×100 m medley Gold 1991 Brisbane 100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Brisbane 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1991 Brisbane 4×100 m medley Gold 1991 Brisbane 100 m butterfly Silver 1985 Tokyo 200 m freestyle Silver 1987 Brisbane 50 m freestyle Silver 1991 Brisbane 50 m freestyle Bronze 1985 Tokyo 100 m butterfly Bronze 1987 Brisbane 100 m butterfly Summer Universiade Gold 1985 Kobe 100 m freestyle Gold 1985 Kobe 200 m freestyle Gold 1985 Kobe 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1985 Kobe 4×200 m freestyle

Matthew Nicholas Biondi (born October 8, 1965 in Palo Alto, California) is a three-time U.S. Olympic swimmer in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Summer Olympics, winning a total of 11 medals. He is a member of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Biondi left Seoul with five gold medals, setting world records in four of those events.

Early life and athletics

Biondi started his aquatics career as a swimmer and water polo player in his hometown of Moraga, California. As he moved into his teens, his incredible abilities as a sprint swimmer began to emerge. Though he did not start swimming year-round until he started at Campolindo High School, by his senior year Biondi was the top schoolboy sprinter in America with a National High School record of 20.40 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. He accepted a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley to swim and play water polo, and enrolled in 1983. In his freshman year, he played on Berkeley's NCAA Championship water polo team, and made the consolation finals at the 1984 NCAA Swimming Championships.

Olympic career

1984 Olympics

The summer of 1984, Biondi surprised the swimming community by qualifying for a spot on the U.S. 4×100 meter freestyle relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The team won the gold medal in a world record time. Returning to Berkeley, Biondi once again played on an NCAA Champion water polo team in the fall and in the winter of 1985 won the first of his 8 individual swimming titles at NCAAs. He would be named NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 1985, 1986, and 1987, and would set several American and NCAA records.

Biondi set the first of his twelve individual swimming World records in 1985. He was the first man to swim the 100-meter freestyle faster than 49 seconds, and by 1988 he owned the ten fastest times swum in that event. He won a total 24 U.S. Championships in the 50, 100, and 200-meter freestyle events, as well as the 100-butterfly. In two World Championships (1986 and 1991), Biondi won 11 medals including six gold. During his career, he was a James E. Sullivan Award Finalist, the UPI Sportsman of the Year, the USOC Sportsman of the Year, and twice the Swimming World magazine Male Swimmer of the World (1986 and 1988).

1988 Olympics

Biondi was involved in perhaps the most notable defeat of any competitor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In the 100 metre butterfly final, caught between strokes as he approached the finishing wall, he chose to glide rather than take another stroke, and was beaten by Anthony Nesty of Suriname by 1/100th of a second.

He still managed to win 5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics, achieving World records in 4 of those triumphs, 3 in relays and one in the 50 metre freestyle, clocking 22.14 seconds for the sprint 50. This was the third time he had broken or equalled the existing 50 metre freestyle World record.

Biondi's time in the 100 metre freestyle final was the only sub-49.00 second swim of the competition, setting a new Olympic record of 48.63 seconds, the second fastest time in history.

Training

Biondi was said to make a point of being the slowest person in the pool during warm up, no matter the skill level of the other swimmers surrounding him.

Recent life and work

He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988 with a BA degree in Political Economy of Industrialized Societies (PEIS).

Biondi married Kirsten Metzger in her home state of Hawaii in 1995. They have three children: sons Nathaniel (Nate), born in 1998, and Lucas, born in 2002; and daughter Makena, born in 2007.

Kirsten Biondi persuaded her husband to continue his education and he obtained a master's degree in teaching at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Matt Biondi is now a math teacher at Parker School in Kamuela on Hawaii's Big Island.^[1]

See also

• World record progression 50 metres freestyle
• World record progression 100 metres freestyle
• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists in one event

References

• sports-reference

1. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/07/01/biondi.cuw/index.html

External links

• Biondi's entry from the International Swimming Hall of Fame website.

Records
Preceded by Tom Jager Tom Jager	Men's 50 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) June 26, 1986 – August 13, 1987 September 24, 1988 – August 20, 1989	Succeeded by Tom Jager Tom Jager
Preceded by Rowdy Gaines	Men's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 6 August 1985 – 18 June 1994	Succeeded by Alexander Popov
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Michael Groß Tamás Darnyi	World Swimmer of the Year 1986 1988	Succeeded by Tamás Darnyi Mike Barrowman
Preceded by Ben Johnson	United Press International Athlete of the Year 1988	Succeeded by Boris Becker

Persondata
Name	Biondi, Matthew Nicholas
Alternative names	Biondi, Matt
Short description	American swimmer
Date of birth	October 8, 1965
Place of birth	Palo Alto, California, United States
Date of death
Place of death	[]