Matthew Nicholas Biondi, the phenomenal swimmer
Matthew Nicholas Biondi is an American swimmer and specialises in freestyle and butterfly strokes. He was born on the 8th of October 1965 in Palo Alto, California. He has participated in three Summer Olympics, those which took place in 1984, 1988
and 1992. Matthew is the winner of 11 medals in the Olympic Games. The great American swimmer is considered one of the top ten swimmers of all times. Biondi is also the member of United States Olympic Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
After the world famous American swimmer Mark Spitz, Matthew was the man who won the most medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In the Olympic Games that took place in Seoul, Matthew returned home with gold medals in five events. He was able to set world records
in four of these events.
Matthew started playing the sport of swimming and water polo simultaneously in his hometown on Moraga in California. That was the beginning of his aquatic career that reached its peak within no time. As he grew up to be a teenager, his outstanding swimming
abilities also matured as a sprint swimmer. Biondi was not a swimmer who would practise the sport all year round, at least not until he joined the Campolindo High School. He became the fastest sprint swimmer and set a National High School record by finishing
the 50-metre freestyle race in just 20.40 seconds. He was offered a sports scholarship at the University of California, Berkley. He played water polo and swam at the University. Matthew was enrolled in the session that started in 1983, and was a part of the
Berkley’s NCAA Championship water polo team.
Matthew’s Olympic career started from 1984 Summer Olympics. The athlete qualified for a place in the US Swimming team for the 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay race at the Olympics. This was very surprising for his fans and the experts of the sport. The Olympics
took place in Los Angeles. Luckily for him, the team managed to win away the gold medal and also set a world record in the event. He returned to Berkley, and once again competed on an NCAA Championship water polo team in the winter of 1985, winning 8 individual
swimming titles at NCAAs. Apart from being the NCAA Swimmer of the Year in the years 1985, 1986, 1987, he is also the holder of numerous NCAA records and titles.
Four years later, he participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics that took place in Seoul. In the 100-metre butterfly stroke, Matthew had to face a very painful defeat at the hands of Anthony Nesty of Suriname.
Despite this defeat, he managed to take home 5 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Matthew set world records in 4 of the events capturing gold medals, out of which three were in relays and one in the 50 metre freestyle. He also set a new Olympic
record by finishing the 100-metre freestyle in 48.63 seconds. This time was the second fastest time in the world at that time.
His swimming in the warm-up pool was considered the slowest by the highly-skilled swimmers who used to swim with him, but he did always manage to prove his potential and career in every national and international competition that he participated in.
Matthew graduated from the University of California, Berkley with a degree in Political Economy of Industrialized Societies. He got married to Kirsten Metzger from Hawaii in 1995. His wife being a supportive partner persuaded her husband to continue his
education. Matthew then headed to Portland to do a master’s degree from the Lewis and Clark College. Currently, the great swimmer is a math teacher at Parker School situated in Kamuela in Hawaii. Matthew Biondi has three children, 2 sons and one daughter.
His sons are named Nathaniel and Lucas, and his daughter in named Maken.
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