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Matt Biondi

Matt Biondi
Personal information
Full name Matthew Nicholas Biondi
Nickname(s) "Matt," "The California Condor"
National team  United States
Born (1965-10-08) October 8, 1965 (age 51)
Moraga, California
Height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight 209 lb (95 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle, butterfly
College team University of California, Berkeley

Matthew Nicholas Biondi (born October 8, 1965) is an American former competition swimmer, eleven-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in five events. Biondi competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning a total of eleven medals (eight gold, two silver and one bronze). During his career, he set three individual world records in the 50-meter freestyle and four in the 100-meter freestyle.

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Biondi won five gold medals, setting world records in the 50-meter freestyle and three relay events.

Biondi is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.

Biondi started his aquatics career as a swimmer and water polo player in his hometown of Moraga, California. As he moved into his teens, his incredible abilities as a sprint swimmer began to emerge. Though he did not start swimming year-round until he started at Campolindo High School, by his senior year Biondi was the top schoolboy sprinter in America with a national high school record of 20.40 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. He accepted a scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley, to swim and play water polo, and enrolled in 1983. In his first year, he played on Berkeley's NCAA championship water polo team, and made the consolation finals at the 1984 NCAA swimming championships.

In the summer of 1984, Biondi surprised the swimming community by qualifying for a spot on the U.S. 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The team won the gold medal in a world record time. Upon returning to Berkeley, Biondi once again played on an NCAA champion water polo team in the fall, and during in the winter of 1985, he won the first of his eight individual swimming titles at the NCAA championships.


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