Michael Gross

Michael Groß (; born 17 June 1964), usually spelled Michael Gross in English, is a former competitive swimmer from Germany. He is tall, and received the nickname "The Albatross" for his especially long arms that gave him a total span of 2.13 metres. Gross, 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 studied German and media studies as well as political science at the Goethe University Frankfurt and holds a PhD in philology. He married in 1995 and has a daughter (born 1996) and a son (born 1998).