90 Quotes by Mark Spitz

Past performance speaks a tremendous amount about one’s ability and likelihood for success.

In everyday life there is always manana. There is no urgency.

I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That’s almost demeaning to me. It is not almost – it is.

If you want to be Mark Spitz then go for it. If you want to be Michael Phelps then you’ll have to work for it. Nobody should wake up to a lower expectation of themselves.

I got beat real hard and heavy in the Olympic Games in 1968 by a guy who swam an incredible race one time in his whole life, but he did it right at the right time. I’d like to be that guy now. Maybe that’s what I’m going to have to pull out of my hat to make the Olympic team.

I wasn’t able to lower my cholesterol so they put me on a statin drug. It is called lipitor. I was able to lower my level in about 30 days from above 300 to below 200.

I walked away from the sport for 17 years, then started swimming again recently in a master’s program.

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.

One of the most difficult things for people who have been successful in sports is adapting to the daily world where you can’t get an answer from someone until 5 o’clock tomorrow. There is always an excuse. Living 40 or 50 years like that doesn’t get too exciting after a while.