Stephen Rerych Stephen Rerych Stephen Karl "Steve" Rerych (born May 14, 1946) is an American former swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Rerych won two gold medals. He swam the second leg for the winning U.S. team in the men's 4×100-meter freestyle relay; with relay teammates Zac Zorn, Mark Spitz and Ken Walsh, he helped set a new world record of 3:31.7 in the event final. He received another gold medal as a member of the first-place U.S. team in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, together with teammates John Nelson, Spitz and Don Schollander.
Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre butterfly these Games, tying Mark Spitz's record for most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games. For being able to emulate Spitz's record, Speedo, a sponsor of Michael Phelps, awarded him a US$1 million bonus, which had already been offered to him at the 2004 Summer Olympics, under the same conditions. After the final, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) arranged a joint interview with Phelps and Spitz, where Spitz praised Phelps' effort, telling him that "what you did tonight was epic" and even though at one point, Phelps was more than half a second behind Čavić, Spitz "never thought for