MUNICH MEMORY

FIFTY YEARS ON, THE AUTHOR RECALLS COUNSELING MARK SPITZ IN THE SAD HOURS AFTER THE SWIMMER MADE HISTORY, WHEN THE OLYMPICS CHANGED FOREVER

- JERRY KIRSHENBAUM

IF HE'D had a mind to, Mark Spitz could have celebrated on a far grander scale. He could have whooped it up with coaches, teammates and his legion of fans who now were everywhere in Munich. But he wasn't a party animal, and even on this night of epochal triumph, he wouldn't become one. Nine days of pressure-actually, four years of pressure had been lifted from his shoulders, leaving him relieved and happy but with emotions in check. For him, the cobbled-together, late-night dinner at Käfer-Schänke would be celebration enough.

He had ended his athletic career in glory. Shortly after 9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 4, 1972, in the final swimming event at the Munich Olympics, the 400-meter medley relay, Spitz entered the water for the last time. Swimming the butterfly leg, he helped propel the U.S. team to victory, completing a personal feat that redefined perfection: seven events, seven gold medals, seven world records.

Afterward, he changed into street clothes and was surrounded by well-wishers in a hallway of the Olympic Schwimmhalle. Rakishly handsome, with a recently acquired jet-black mustache set off by a movie-star smile, he accepted congratulations, signed autographs and posed for photos. Finally, the crush of admirers thinned.

I was covering the Olympic swimming competition as a writer for SPORTS ILLUSTRATEDwhich meant, really, that I was covering Mark Spitz. On the beat with me were two German-born SI colleagues, photographer Heinz Kluetmeier and reporter Anita Verschoth. We knew Spitz well and he knew us well, and when I invited him to have dinner, he accepted. Anita asked around and came up with Käfer-Schänke, a stylish restaurant open until the wee hours. Heinz was bringing a date, so it would be the five of us.