Athletes still have real jobs in 1972.

The Olympic amateur status still applies, even if it has long since been circumvented in many ways.

For example, by the state amateurs of the Eastern bloc, de facto professionals in the civil service.

Or, in the West, through “donations in kind” from large sporting goods companies.

Christian Eichler

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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After winning the 200-meter freestyle, Mark Spitz is holding his third gold medal around his neck, two blue shoes with the three stripes – a piece of sports equipment that is otherwise not absolutely necessary for swimmers.

The Soviets demand the expulsion of the American.

Spitz claims he only acted out of spontaneous joy.

That sounds ridiculous, but IOC President Avery Brundage is reluctant to exclude the superstar and compatriot - unlike six months earlier, the Austrian ski champion Karl Schranz from the Winter Games in Sapporo.

The piece of evidence at the time: a photo showing Schranz at a benefit soccer game in a jersey with a coffee advert.

To paraphrase Orwell: Before amateur status, everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others.

Go back to your normal life

At least optically, a 19-year-old German steals the show on this third day of competition.

Werner Lampe swims in the lead with a full head of hair.

For the final he appears bald because of the lower water resistance.

And accepts the bronze medal under a light blonde hairpiece, allegedly donated by a tabloid that paid for the exclusive story of the "bald swimmer".

Spitz will give up amateur status and dental studies after the Olympics to earn millions from advertising.

Most, however, return to their normal lives, their normal jobs, after the games for which they had to take vacation or find a substitute.

Like Angelo Scalzone, who, after hitting his 199th trap pigeon as an Olympic champion, resumed management of his hotel near Naples.

Or Michel Carrega, who was narrowly beaten by him and returns home to his life as a coral fisherman in Corsica decorated with silver.

Or like Ymer Pampuri, Albania's first Olympic hero, to whom his homeland will dedicate a stamp even before his death in 2017.

The weightlifter didn't win a medal in the triathlon at his country's Olympic debut, but he lifted the same weight as Olympic champion Norair Nurikyan in the press.

Because he is lighter than the Bulgarian, he is therefore officially the world champion in the press - forever the last of his kind.

But Pampuri returns home from Munich as a champion to Tirana – to his job as a circus clown.