The Cal 100: No. 10 -- Matt Biondi
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 10: Matt Biondi
Cal Sports Connection: Biondi won 12 NCAA swim titles for the Bears and was a four-time All-American on Cal water polo teams that captured three NCAA crowns.
Claim to Fame: He set 12 world record and won 11 Olympic medals - eight of them gold - and was the star of the 1988 Seoul Games, claiming seven Olympic medals.
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The story sounds apocryphal, but it’s so good we couldn’t resist. Matt Biondi was about 5 years old and competing in his first age-group swim race when he false-started. Twice.
When he finally dived into the pool, he lost his swimsuit.
Things got better for Biondi. Much better.
Sprouting to 6-foot-7, he became one of history’s great freestyle sprinters. In a nutshell, his resume includes 12 NCAA titles while at Cal in the mid-1980s, 24 U.S. championships, 11 medals at three Olympics and 12 world records.
Matt Biondi celebrates a relay victory at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Photo by Porter Binks, USA Today
Turns out, Biondi was pretty good at anything he tried in the water. In addition to his swim career, he helped the Bears win three NCAA water polo championships.
"What I did was extremely rare," Biondi said in a 2021 nterview with the Lamorinda Weekly in his East Bay hometown. "There were other athletes in college that competed in both sports, but I was the only one who was a four-year all-American in both swimming and water polo.”
The combination of excellence in both sports lands Biondi at No. 10 in The Cal 100.
Biondi peaked in 1988 when he traveled to the Seoul Olympics carrying the heavy expectation he might match Mark Spitz’s record seven gold medals. It was probably unrealistic because swimming had changed so much in 16 years, with talent across the globe.
That goal was out the window when Biondio settled for a bronze in the 200-meter freestyle — his first race of the Games, and his toughest. He won a silver in the 100 butterfly, losing by 1/100th of a second to Suriman’s Anthony Nesty. That prompted Biondi to quip, “What if I had grown my fingernails longer?”
The rest of Biondi’s stay at South Korea was perfect — five gold medals, with world records in four of them. He beat rival Tom Jager in the 50 free for the first time in two years — breaking the world record in the process — and also grabbed gold in the 100 free.
Seoul Olympics cover boy
Sports Illustrated
His seven medals made him the most decorated athlete at the Seoul Games.
Add the relay gold he won at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, while still an undergrad at Cal, and two more golds in relays and a silver in the 50 free at the ’92 Barcelona Games and Biondi finished with eight gold medals, two silver and one bronze.
A star at Campolindo High School, Biondi chose Cal after reportedly being told by Stanford coach Skip Kenney that he didn’t have what it takes. That provided great motivation for Biondi each time he crossed paths with the Cardinal.
“After I set three American records in swimming and won two national championships my sophomore year, Kenney walked across the pool deck and shook my hand and said that he was obviously wrong about me.”
Matt Biondi at Cal
Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
As a junior in 1986, he became the first swimmer in 56 years to sweep the 50, 100 and 200 free events at the NCAA championships. A year later, he did it again.
Biondi, who was named the NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 1985, 1986 and 1987, called his time training under legendary Cal coach Nort Thornton “a great partnership.”
Meanwhile, he found the energy to help Pete Cutino’s water polo team win NCAA crowns in 1983, ’84 and ’87, with the Bears compiling a record of 82-10-3 in those three seasons.
Headed to Seoul, he was acknowledged as one of the sport’s biggest names. He was the first man to complete the 100-meter freestyle in under 49 seconds, and he owned the 10 fastest times for the event in 1988.
Biondi was twice honored as the U.S. Olympic Committee Sportsman of the Year and was two-time Male Swimmer of the World by Swimming World magazine.
Matt Biondi at age 48 in 2014.
Photo by Kirby Lee, USA Today
When his competitive career was over, Biondi hit the motivational speaking circuit, often commanding $5,000 to $10,000 per appearance. But it wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed doing.
"The basic truth is, it's a pain in the butt to be famous," Biondi said. "People only see you for one dimension. No matter what you say or do, you're the tall guy who stood up in the little swimsuit, touched the wall first and threw your arms up in victory.”
At the urging of his wife, he returned to school, securing a master’s degree in teaching at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He taught and coached in Hawaii for a while, also spent time on a research boat, swimming with humpback whales.
In 2021, he founded the International Swimmers' Alliance, an attempt to professionalize elite-level swimmers so they can share in revenue at high-profile events.
Biondi has lent his time to the Special Olympics, National Dairy Council and Sports Illustrated for kids, helping to promote good nutritional habits.
Now 57, Biondi is the father of three, including oldest son Nate, who was a walk-on swimmer at Cal.
He is a member of the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago, where his 11 Olympic medals have resided for more than two decades.
Cover photo of Matt Biondi blasting off the starting block at the 1988 Seoul Olympics by Porter Binks, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo