Matt Biondi
Encyclopedia
Matthew Nicholas Biondi (born October 8, 1965 in Palo Alto
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

) is a three-time U.S. Olympic swimmer in the 1984
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

, 1988
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...

, and 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...

, winning a total of 11 medals. He is a member of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame
United States Olympic Hall of Fame
The United States Olympic Hall of Fame is an honor roll of the top American Olympic athletes.The Hall of Fame was established by the United States Olympic Committee in 1979; the first members were inducted in 1983. Between 1992 and 2003, the Hall of Fame went dormant, with no induction of new...

 and the International Swimming Hall of Fame
International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of swimming in the United States and around...

.

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
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

 player in his hometown of Moraga, California
Moraga, California
Moraga is a suburban incorporated town located in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named in honor of Joaquin Moraga, whose grandfather was José Joaquin Moraga, second in command to Juan Bautista de Anza...

. 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
Campolindo High School
Campolindo High School is a public high school located in Moraga, California, and is in the Acalanes Union High School District. Campolindo offers an advanced education system in the Acalanes School District, with particular emphasis on its participation in the Advanced Placement Program.In 2003,...

, 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
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 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.

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
Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics, held at the McDonald's Olympic Swim Stadium, located on the USC campus. There was a total of 494 participants from 67 countries competing.-Medal table:-Men's events:-Women's events:-References:...

. 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
World record progression 100 metres freestyle
The first world record in the men's 100 metres freestyle in long course swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation in 1905...

 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
James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...

 Finalist, the UPI Sportsman of the Year, the USOC Sportsman of the Year, and twice the Swimming World magazine
Swimming World magazine
Swimming World Magazine is an American-based monthly swimming magazine, that was first published in a magazine format as Junior Swimmer in January of 1960...

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
Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics took place in Seoul, South Korea. The swimming competition, held from September 18 to September 25, was notable for the seven medals, including five golds, won by Matt Biondi, the six golds won by Kristin Otto, and the three individual golds won by Janet Evans...

. In the 100 metre butterfly
Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metre butterfly
The men's 100 butterfly at the 1988 Summer Olympics, was contested on September 20 and September 21 .-Records:The existing World and Olympic records at the time of the event were:-A Final:-B Final:-Preliminary heats:...

 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
Anthony Nesty
Anthony Conrad Nesty is a former Surinamese international swimmer who was an Olympic gold medalist in the 100-metre butterfly event in 1988.- Early years :...

 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
Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 50 metre freestyle
The men's 50 metre freestyle event at the 1988 Olympic Games took place September 24. This swimming event is freestyle swimming, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated . Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl or a variant of that stroke...

, 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 progression 50 metres freestyle
The first world record in the men's 50 metres freestyle in long course swimming was recognised by the International Swimming Federation in 1976...

 World record.

Biondi's time in the 100 metre freestyle
Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metre freestyle
The men's 100 freestyle at the 1988 Summer Olympics was held on September 22, 1988, with both preliminaries and finals on the same day.-Records:The existing World and Olympic records at the time of the competition were:-A Final:-B Final:-Heats:...

 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
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

 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
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

. Matt Biondi is now a math teacher at Parker School in Kamuela on Hawaii's Big Island.

See also


External links









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