Mark Spitz earned seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany and world records were set in each event. Although the Spitz record stood for an astonishing 36 years, it came to an end this summer at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing when American swimmer Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals. 

Mark Spitz began swimming at the age of two and after retiring from the Olympics he had a short-lived television career and eventually settled in to a profitable real estate career. Seventeen years later, at the age of 39, he began training again with the hopes of earning a spot on the 1992 Olympic team. Unfortunately he fell short in qualifying and had to settle with a career total of 11 Olympic medals. As an outspoken athlete Mark Spitz has acquired many memorable and amusing quotes and today he can be found on the motivational speaker circuit.

In honour of his long standing record coming to an end, here are 15 of my most favourite Mark Spitz quotes:

1) "I'm trying to do the best I can. I'm not concerned with tomorrow, but with what goes on today."

2) "I always wanted to be a dentist from the time I was in high school, and I was accepted to dental school in the spring of 1972. I was planning to go, but after the Olympics there were other opportunities."

3) "If you fail to prepare, you're prepared to fail."

4) "Life is true to form; records are meant to be broken."

5) "By making a comeback, I'm changing the attitude of people toward me. If I'd known that people would react so enthusiastically, I'd have done it years ago."

6) "When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the moustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it - and everybody was talking about it - that I decided to keep it."

7) "If he wins seven golds and ties what I did, then it would be like I was the first man on the moon and he became the second. If he wins more than seven, then he becomes the first man on Mars. We'd both be unique."

8) "Goggles were not allowed. A cap was allowed, but I chose not to wear one. I grew the moustache because a coach in college said I couldn't grow one."

9) "Swimming isn't everything, winning is."

10) "Their destiny and where they want to be in life is not going to be a matter of chance ... it's really the choices they make, and they have to be committed to those choices."

11) "Yes, I believe that the art of winning is through intimidation, and not necessarily do you have to speak about it."

12) "I swam my brains out."

13) "Past performance speaks a tremendous amount about one's ability and likelihood for success."

14) "I got beat real hard and heavy in the Olympic Games in 1968 by a guy who swam an incredible race one time in his whole life, but he did it right at the right time. I'd like to be that guy now. Maybe that's what I'm going to have to pull out of my hat to make the Olympic team."

15) "Everyone loves to be loved."