Swimming Finals at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain

Thanks Tom. I was luckly enough to meet Matt Biondi at the USAS convention in either 1994 or 1995. I think it was in Kansas City. I remember he was in one of the hospitality rooms and he seemed larger than life. He looked a lot thinner than I remember him being on TV and in the magazines. The big news at the time was that Melvin Stewart and Summer Sanders had announced that they were getting out of retirement and trying to make the 1996 Olympic team. One of the people asked him if he would consider doing that and afterall Pablo did it. He said he wished them luck but it was not his bag. He never ever set out to be a professonal swimmer after the 1992 Olympics. From 1988 to 1992 because he liked to compete, thought he could challenge himself to improve, and establish his independence he would give it a try. Plus opportunities were available with Tom Jager for prize money races. They became very successful with the sprint race from Nashville being seen by more than 8 million people worldwide. In 1990, swimming had more publicity in a non-Olympic year than any other time. It did real well for about a year and started to die but then Mark Spitz decides to come back and their prize money jumped from $20,000 to $75,000. When that ended the Olympic Trials and the the Olympics happened. He fulfilled his contractual obligations and then retired. He said he left the sport with no regrets. He said those 4 years were much harder to train and swim well because he trained with his California Berkley team and while they taper he is trying to train at a high level and everytime they had college meets he was pretty much by himself. He said post graduate swimming requires greater responsibilities and more freedoms and that you must strike a balance between trainning time and sponsorship responsibilities. He was always busy with autograph sessions, public speaking at social functions and racing for prize money and appearence fees. He said he was thankful for these revenue earning activities and also was proud to give back to the sport that was allowing him a opportunity to swim in one more Olympics. He said he was constantly travelling but it was fun for those 2 years and he could not see doing this for the rest of his life. He wanted to utilize his degree and be more involved with the environmental work with marine mammals. In fact he is the National spokesperson for the Humane Society and co-founderof the Delphys Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to study and protection of marine animals He said that he has had all sorts of Business people, Olympic people, Sponsors, Swim Clubs, Coaches, etc wanting him to make a comeback for the 1996 Olympics. But at 29 years old its time to move on to other prioritys in life. I still have the 1992 USA Swim Calendar called Lives in the Fast Lane" and I used to use it to post all the workouts that I did during that 1992 year. He was the January poster person. One of his quotes from the calendar is "You have to shoot for something you believe in, not what someone else believes in". I think that man lives by those words every day of his life.

Thanks Tom. I was luckly enough to meet Matt Biondi at the USAS convention in either 1994 or 1995. I think it was in Kansas City. I remember he was in one of the hospitality rooms and he seemed larger than life. He looked a lot thinner than I remember him being on TV and in the magazines. The big news at the time was that Melvin Stewart and Summer Sanders had announced that they were getting out of retirement and trying to make the 1996 Olympic team. One of the people asked him if he would consider doing that and afterall Pablo did it. He said he wished them luck but it was not his bag. He never ever set out to be a professonal swimmer after the 1992 Olympics. From 1988 to 1992 because he liked to compete, thought he could challenge himself to improve, and establish his independence he would give it a try. Plus opportunities were available with Tom Jager for prize money races. They became very successful with the sprint race from Nashville being seen by more than 8 million people worldwide. In 1990, swimming had more publicity in a non-Olympic year than any other time. It did real well for about a year and started to die but then Mark Spitz decides to come back and their prize money jumped from $20,000 to $75,000. When that ended the Olympic Trials and the the Olympics happened. He fulfilled his contractual obligations and then retired. He said he left the sport with no regrets. He said those 4 years were much harder to train and swim well because he trained with his California Berkley team and while they taper he is trying to train at a high level and everytime they had college meets he was pretty much by himself. He said post graduate swimming requires greater responsibilities and more freedoms and that you must strike a balance between trainning time and sponsorship responsibilities. He was always busy with autograph sessions, public speaking at social functions and racing for prize money and appearence fees. He said he was thankful for these revenue earning activities and also was proud to give back to the sport that was allowing him a opportunity to swim in one more Olympics. He said he was constantly travelling but it was fun for those 2 years and he could not see doing this for the rest of his life. He wanted to utilize his degree and be more involved with the environmental work with marine mammals. In fact he is the National spokesperson for the Humane Society and co-founderof the Delphys Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to study and protection of marine animals He said that he has had all sorts of Business people, Olympic people, Sponsors, Swim Clubs, Coaches, etc wanting him to make a comeback for the 1996 Olympics. But at 29 years old its time to move on to other prioritys in life. I still have the 1992 USA Swim Calendar called Lives in the Fast Lane" and I used to use it to post all the workouts that I did during that 1992 year. He was the January poster person. One of his quotes from the calendar is "You have to shoot for something you believe in, not what someone else believes in". I think that man lives by those words every day of his life.