How it unfolded
Mark Spitz already had six gold medals around his neck when he lined up for his final race. The 200m butterfly in 2:00.70, the 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:26.42, the 200m freestyle in 1:52.78, the 100m butterfly in 54.27, the 4x200m freestyle relay in 7:35.78, the 100m freestyle in 51.22, every one a world record. What remained was the 4x100m medley relay. The United States lined up Mike Stamm on backstroke, Tom Bruce on breaststroke, Spitz on butterfly and Jerry Heidenreich anchoring on freestyle. Spitz opened up the gap on the third leg and Heidenreich closed it out, and the United States won in a world-record 3:48.16, with East Germany second in 3:52.12. That gave Spitz seven gold medals at a single Games, every one of the seven won in world-record time, with no exception whatsoever. The mark stood for 36 years until Michael Phelps won eight in 2008. Early the very next morning, the hostage crisis involving the Israeli delegation broke out in the Munich Olympic Village, and Spitz, who is Jewish, had to leave Germany under guard.
Why it still matters
Winning all seven events in world-record time is still cited as the most flawless single-Games performance ever produced. Even after Phelps won eight in 2008, Spitz's Munich remained the reference point, and every multi-gold run since has been measured against it. At the same time, this race was the last bright moment of a Games that would go on to confirm, in the cruellest possible way, that sport cannot be separated from politics and violence.