1988 Olympics
Biondi won five gold, one silver, and one bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, setting four world records and an Olympic record.
In his first event, the 200-meter freestyle, Biondi faced reigning Olympic Champion, World Champion, and world record-holder Michael Gross. Biondi swam a good race, with a time of 1:47.99, but finished with a bronze medal behind Australian Duncan Armstrong, who won gold with a new world record, and Anders Holmertz of Sweden, who earned the silver.
Biondi's finished second in his next event, the 100-meter butterfly, by the narrowest possible margin. In the finals, he was caught between strokes as he approached the finishing wall. He chose to glide rather than take another stroke, and was edged out by Anthony Nesty of Suriname by just one one-hundredth (0.01) of a second. Biondi's silver medal time of 53.01 was a personal best.
Later that day, Biondi anchored the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, joined by teammates Troy Dalbey, Matt Cetlinski, and Doug Gjertsen. The American team won gold, setting a world record of 7:12.51. Biondi entered the water with the U.S. team in second place .82 seconds behind the East German team, but passed them by swimming the fastest split time of the race with a 1:46.44, which at the time was also the fastest ever 200 freestyle relay split. This started Biondi's remarkable streak of five gold medals in five days of Olympic swimming, each a world or Olympic record.
In the 100-meter freestyle, Biondi won his first individual Olympic gold, setting a new Olympic record of 48.63. This was the second-fastest 100-meter freestyle of all time, eclipsed only by Biondi's effort at the Olympic trials the prior month. Teammate Chris Jacobs won silver, delivering the first one-two finish for the American swim team at the 1988 Olympics.
Next up was the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, in which Biondi was joined by teammates Jacobs, Troy Dalbey, and Tom Jager. The American team won gold with another world record, 3:16.53, anchored by Biondi's blistering split of 47.81.
In his fourth individual event, Biondi faced Jager in the 50-meter freestyle. It was the Olympic debut of the event, in which both Biondi and Jager had previously set world records. It was another one-two finish for the Americans, with Biondi winning gold in a world-record time of 22.14, and Jager winning silver.
The Olympic swimming competition concluded with the 4×100-meter medley relay. Biondi swam the butterfly leg, joined by teammates David Berkoff (backstroke), Richard Schroeder (breaststroke), and Chris Jacobs (freestyle). The American men set another world record of 3:36.93 to complete their gold-medal sweep in the relays.
For his accomplishments in 1988, Biondi was named the United Press International Athlete of the Year, the US Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year, and the Swimming World Swimmer of the Year.
