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Swimmer
I was born in Modesto. As a swimmer, I won seven Olympic gold medals with world records at the 1972 Munich Games, becoming the most successful Olympian of my time.
Birth name
Born
1950-02-10, Modesto
Profession
Swimmer
Awards
The eldest of three children born to Arnold Spitz and Lenore Smith, Jewish-American parents. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Hungary to America. He got married in 1973, and the marriage produced two sons (born in 1981 and 1991). After retiring, he appeared as a guest on TV shows, worked as a sports commentator, and became a successful businessman in real estate.
He made his Olympic debut in 1968 in Mexico City, winning gold in the 4×100 m and 4×200 m freestyle relays, and also earning silver in the 100 m butterfly and bronze in the 100 m freestyle.
In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, he reached the peak of his career by winning 7 Olympic gold medals, all with world and Olympic records: 100 m freestyle (51.22 seconds), 200 m freestyle (1:52.78), 100 m butterfly (54.27), 200 m butterfly (2:00.70), and as part of the 4×100 m freestyle, 4×200 m freestyle, and 4×100 m medley relays.
This record stood until 2008, when Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals.
The Dohány Street synagogue is one of Budapest’s touristic highlights as it is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. The synagogue was built in 1859 in the Moorish style and it can seat 3000 people. Its huge size demonstrates the significance and the high economic and cultural standards of the Budapest Jewry of the age.
The temple was designed by Ludwig Förster (1797-1863), a German architect, professor of the Vienna Academy. The clerk of works was the architect Ignác Wechselmann (1828-1903) who later bequeathed his entire wealth to the Institute of the Blind. After Förster left, Frigyes Feszl, the famous architect of the Budapest Vigadó designed the temple’s inner sanctum. The official consecration of the synagogue took place on 6 September 1859. The interior of the synagogue is 1200 square metres, the towers are 44 metres high. There are 1497 seats for men downstairs and 1472 for women in the galleries, altogether the seating capacity of the flat-ceilinged inner space is nearly 3000 people.
Atomic physics
