One of the more unheralded stories of the swimming competition at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Steve Genter won three medals competing for the United States shortly after suffering a collapsed lung.
Genter’s lung collapsed approximately one week before his first event of the Games, the men’s 200 freestyle, and on August 24, he underwent a minor surgical procedure to reinflate the lung with a tube, putting him on bed rest until the day before his first swim.
Genter went on to perform incredibly well in Munich despite the adversity, starting off by winning silver in the 200 free in a time of 1:53.73, taking second to American teammate Mark Spitz, who set a new world record in 1:52.78.
Two days later, Genter swam the third leg on the victorious U.S. men’s 800 free relay, as the quartet of John Kinsella, Fred Tyler, Genter and Spitz combined for a time of 7:35.78 to break the world record and top the West German team by nearly six seconds.
Genter finished off his Olympic campaign by winning bronze in the men’s 400 free, though he was upgraded to silver after U.S. teammate Rick DeMont was disqualified after he tested positive for an asthma medication that he had declared prior to the Games. In solidarity with DeMont, Genter refused the silver medal.
Genter, now 73, has put his full medal set up for bid in an offer from RR Auction, which has put 437 total items up for action through January 18.
Photo: RR Auction.
Genter’s medal set’s most recent bid came in at $3,993 (USD), and it’s listed expected value is in the $50,000 range.
The most expensive piece included in the auction figures to be an Olympic winning medal from the 1896 Olympics in Athens—made of silver—which is estimated to be worth $100,000+ and the top bid is currently $14,641 (see here).
Other medals up for bid include gold medals from the Tokyo 1964 Games, the Los Angeles 1932 Games, the Berlin 1936 Games, and many others. (Interestingly, medals from the Winter Olympics are generally valued higher given that they are much harder to come by.)
You can find all of the items up for bid here.
Spitz, of course, went on to win a historic seven gold medals in Munich, winning the men’s 100 free, 100 fly, 200 fly, 400 free relay and 400 medley relay to go along with the 200 free and 800 free relay.
Genter, who also won a pair of Pan Am Games gold medals in 1971 on the U.S. men’s free relays and competed for UCLA in the NCAA, married Swiss Olympic swimmer Erika Ruegg in 1974 and moved to Switzerland in the late 70s.
Whatever the reason for putting his medals up for auction, they were won by a guy who was incredibly tough and a great competitor. I watched him race in Munich. Over the years since, I’ve cited his accomplishments at those Olympic
Games as an example of courageously refusing to give up after experiencing a bad break. There’s no way you can put a dollar value to what those medals are worth. Losing to Mark Spitz by just one second a week after he had a lung collapse is mind blowing. It’s right there with Joan Benoit winning gold in the LA Olympics marathon after she had knee surgery just before the Olympic Trials in 1984. Here’s saluting their fighting spirit!
Also, Grant Hackett was suffering from collapsed lung while defending his 1,500 free title in Olympics record in 2004 Athens
1:53.73? That time would have gotten 4th place in the women’s 200 free at last summer’s WC. The best female athletes of today are clearly superior to the greatest male athletes of the past. Mark Spitz would have struggled to beat Sjostrom in a 1-on-1 100 free race.
Times get faster over the years. At the time, the Spitz time was the WR. At the same 1972 Olympics, Shane Gould set the WR in the W200 free in 2:03.56, now slower than the women’s 200 back record. Back in ’72, few wore goggles, suits were baggier, and training/racing techniques have evolved. What are considered great times now are likely to be eclipsed many times between now and 50+ years on.
Not to mention the evolution of starts, turns and underwater kicking.
A number of years ago I remember reading an analysis that compared Jim Montgomery’s 100 free to Peter Van den Hoogenband. The former was the first under 50 seconds back in the 70s, and Hoogenband of course was the first guy under 48 in 2000.
Based on the analysis, most of the difference between the two swims was in the start and turn. When you consider that Hoogenband was generally considered to be mediocre at starts and turns that was kind of amazing . But it showed that the 70s era athletes were legit.
Ummm…yes, and the women in 1972 were much faster than the men 50 years before that (e.g., Shane Gould in ‘72 was nearly a minute faster than Johnny Weissmuller in the 400m freestyle in ‘24). That doesn’t diminish the greatness of Spitz or Weissmuller – or that Sjosteom and Gould are superior athletically to Spitz and Weissmuller. As expected, swiimming is getting faster over time, snd all four are great, great athletes.
I bet this guy/woman swims no where close to a 1:53.73 LOL
Interesting that he would give them up.
In this economy? I think it’s par for the course
I feel like it’s become the cool thing to say ‘this economy’ even when the economy is doing well.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdaily/2024/01/05/forbes-daily-is-a-soft-landing-in-sight-for-the-us-economy/?sh=55c26878927b
i wouldn’t offer spin on a “soft-landing” scenario as evidence the economy is doing well. take a look a data on real income
Okay, here’s data on real income, which went up in 2023: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/realer.nr0.htm
The real wage gains accelerated at the end of 2023.
and they are down -4.4% from jan-2021 levels and -1.75% below the 10yr pre-covid trend line (US Real Average Weekly Earnings) historical data from table A-1 referenced in the link you furnished
real hourly earnings ($11.08/hr) are -3.0% below both Jan-21 and 10yr trend line levels.
Just guessing….but you likely have a high enough income that you are not feeling the effects of inflation. Remember that the core inflation rate leaves out fuel and food because they are considered volatile. But probably along with housing it is what most people spend their $$ on. Come to inner city Detroit and I will introduce you to those who disagree with your economic assessment.
If you include food and energy, inflation is actually falling faster: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/22/pce-inflation-november-2023-.html
Like I said – it’s en vogue to be mad at the economy right now. That’s because it has become so easy to blame ‘someone else’ for ‘why I’m not getting mine.’
But even consumer sentiment is starting to increase, so enjoy your pity party while it lasts:
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-confidence-perks-up-december-2023-12-20/
Maybe stop trying to win elections based on “what is terrible” and instead tell people “what we’re going to do to make things better.” Ya know, governing.
the article you link shows that confidence is still 20pts below pre-covid levels as are expectations … re CPI let’s highlight the distinction between price levels and inflation rate… CPI index total is up +18.8% /core +16.8% from pre covid-level again significantly above the 10yr trend line. the monthly inflation rate would need to sit at zero until Sept-2028 to return to trend.
Why are Fred Tyler and Erika Ruegg names in black type?
Because the font on our website is black. I don’t understand the question.
Seriously? Others are in red. I think the real explanation is names when they first appear are bolded. Those in red are linked to other articles and those in black are not linked.
Gotcha.
If we tag people and they have a bunch of articles written about them, it automatically links off to their tags page. If they haven’t been written about much, it doesn’t. I don’t know the exact mechanism or count – it was created by our original developer who is no longer with the company.
Now you get it??? Thank you!
The names in red are links to other SwimSwam articles. The names in black don’t have such links.
Personally, I would not want any medals not won by me or a family member, but that’s JMHO.
Same
I’ve got great news for you