Mark Spitz
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Winning my first gold medal as an individual – the 200-meter butterfly in Munich – was my most memorable Olympic moment. I’d worked so hard from, supposedly, my lack of success from the games the time before, that I knew I didn’t have to second guess whether I trained enough, whether I rested enough, or whether or not I was healthy. It was all systems go. Every day after that was a build up to winning the 7 gold medals. So, it was winning my first individual gold medal, and the journey that I took over those 8 days in Munich, that were my most memorable Olympic moments.
About 20 years ago, when I was 38, I discovered that I had high cholesterol. My mother had high cholesterol, but she didn’t do anything about it, and most people didn’t understand that having high cholesterol was one of the leading causes of cardiac disease, which is a major cause of heart attacks.
At that time, I weighed 220 pounds, and my cholesterol level was 220, and the doctors wanted to get it under 200, and said “let’s watch how you work out”. After about 5 months, I weight 175 pounds – I lost over 40 pounds – my body fat was 2%, and my cholesterol THEN was 317…so diet and exercise wasn’t going to solve my problem.
So the doctor put me on medication that was a statin drug to lower cholesterol, and I realized that I have to get a message out to people that regardless of the way you think you are, you have no idea if you’re walking around with this silent killer. I was surprised – I’ve worked out my whole life – that this could happen to me. But this can happen to anyone.
You get out of life what you put into it. And you need to put in a little bit of energy into wanting to know. For so many years, I didn’t want to know whether or not I wasn’t healthy, because nobody likes bad news. But in this case, news of your condition can only be the start of the first day of the rest of your life to be on a better path for better health.
You can do something about your health. And, when I think back 20 years ago, had I not done something…I wonder if I’d actually be here today. Cardiac disease was not in my family, but I could have been the first to be an example of what I should have done, rather than what I did do. And my message is really that…do something, and do it today.
One Response to “ Mark Spitz ”
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August 19th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I’m glad to know these things. I would never figure out that Mr Spitz could have high cholesterol since he was a tremendous athlete. I’ve discovered that I have myself a high cholesterol condition and like Mr Spitz I am not fat at all and work out three times a week. This report encouraged me to look for a physician and stop thinking that only exercise and diet will solve my problem. Thank you so much for sharing this information!