"The Albatross" story

Michael Gross (born 17 June 1964), was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is a former swimmer from Germany. He is 201 centimeters (6 feet, 7 inches) tall, and was called "The Albatross", among fellow swimmers, swimmers fans, and coaches, due to his especially long arms that gave him a total span of 2.13 meters. Gross, who was competing for West Germany, won three Olympic gold medals, two in 1984 and one in 1988 in the freestyle and butterfly events, in addition to two World Championship titles in 1982, two in 1986 and one in 1991.

Gross was probably the dominant force in the world in the 200-meter butterfly from 1981 to 1988. In this period he set four world records, won two world titles, four European titles and one Olympic gold medal. The only exception occurred in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when Gross was one of the great athletes of the games. Gross easily won gold in the 200-meter freestyle, dominating the field. In the 100-meter butterfly, Gross won the gold medal, finishing before the favorite in the event, American Pablo Morales. However, in the 200-meter butterfly, Gross lost to Jon Sieben, a relative unknown Australian. The men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay race became one of the main attractions of the games, because of Michael’s participation with the West Germany’s team. Despite the fact that Gross swam the fastest relay leg in the event’s history up to this time, the USA team won the race, earning the prominent title of the “Grossbusters”.

Gross won a total of thirteen medals at the World Championships (including five gold), fifteen gold medals at the European Championships and was elected German "Athlete of the Year" four times (1982, 1983, 1984 and 1988). He retired from professional swimming in 1991. He is also featured in Bud Greenspan's 16 Days of Glory, the documentary film of the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was also named Male World Swimmer of the Year in 1985 by Swimming World magazine and admitted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1995. The best acknowledgement of his swimming abilities was when former swimmer John Naber (1976 gold medal winner) stated to Sports Illustrated that Michael was a better swimmer than Mark Spitz, and that if he were an American he would have won more medals in 1984.

When his competitive swimming career ended in 1991, Gross pursued other interests. He has completed his studies in communications sciences at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and has a doctorate on the relationship between German culture and society in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Image source: [1], [2]