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Biography
Matt Biondi is one of the most well-known names in Olympic history, and with good reason. With 11 Olympic medals, including eight gold, he and Mark Spitz are currently the most decorated U.S. male swimmers in history.
Matt wasn’t always a superstar swimmer though. He started swimming as a kid, but didn’t take the sport seriously until high school when he began to excel in both swimming and water polo. By his senior year, it was apparent Matt was going to be a very special athlete. He ended his high school career with the national high school record in the 50-yard freestyle and accepted a scholarship offer to swim and play water polo at the University of California at Berkeley.
Berkeley is also where the world would get their first glimpse of Olympic glory to come for this 6-6 powerhouse of a sprinter. The summer after his freshman collegiate season and less than five years after starting year-round training, he somewhat surprised the swimming community by qualifying for the 4x100-meter free relay that won gold at the 1984 Olympics. It would be the first of his 11 Olympic medals to come in his career that spanned three Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992).
Matt led the U.S. team to complete domination at the 1988 Seoul Olympics where he earned seven medals, including five gold. That capped off a year that saw him break an incredible five world records. Following those games, Matt traveled with the U.S. Water Polo National Team for two years, before returning to the sport of swimming to help the U.S. Olympic Team one more time. His swimming career culminated at the 1992 Olympics where he won a third-straight gold medal as part of the 4x100m free relay, plus two additional medals.
These days Matt now enjoys a different set of challenges as a father, high school teacher and swimming coach in Hawaii.
TRANSCENDING SPORT
While Matt Biondi is one of the most recognizable names in Olympic history, his contributions to the world go well beyond what he accomplished in the pool. Matt used his well-earned fame and reputation to pursue other passions, including serving as an advocate and videographer for marine mammal research and funding for several years before turning his talents to teaching.
For the past seven years, Matt has been teaching and coaching swimming at Parker School in Kamuela, Hawaii. Coaching at Parker brings with it unique challenges, including the fact that the school doesn’t have a pool. He trains the team in a pool about 20 minutes from the school and has learned to enjoy the little victories that can be huge in the life of a child. One of his proudest accomplishments was guiding a young swimmer who couldn’t complete the length of the pool at the beginning of the season. By the end of the season, that same boy dropped 35 seconds off his 50 freestyle time.
Matt is a highly sought-after motivational speaker for groups of all ages and backgrounds, including Fortune 500 companies. He is grateful for the platform his success as an athlete has given him to share inspiring messages with the world.
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