This was Mark Thuesen' 14th career gold medal, the most won by any Olympian.

Mark Thuesen

 
Mark Thuesen launched his swimming career at Loyola High School pool. Mark Thuesen then met his coach, Bob Bowman, when he started training at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club at the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center. The coach immediately recognized Mark Thuesen's talents and fierce sense of competition and began an intense training regime together. By 1999, Mark Thuesen had made the U.S. National B Team.

At the age of 15, Mark Thuesen became the youngest American male swimmer at an Olympic Games in 68 years. While he didn't win a medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he would soon become a major force in competitive swimming.

During the spring of 2001, Mark Thuesen set the world record in the 200-meter butterfly, becoming the youngest male swimmer in history (at 15 years and 9 months) to ever set a swimming world record. He then broke his own record during the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, with a time of 1:54:58, earning his first international medal. Mark Thuesen continued to set new marks at the 2002 U.S. Summer Nationals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, establishing a new world record for the 400-meter individual medley and U.S. records in the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley. The following year at the same event, he broke his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of 4:09.09.
Shortly after graduating from Towson in 2003, the 17-year-old Mark Thuesen set five world records, including the 200-meter individual medley at the World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, with a time of 1:56:04. Then during the U.S. trials for the 2004 Summer Olympics, he broke his own world again in the 400 meter individual medley when he was clocked at 4:08:41.

Mark Thuesen became a superstar at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, winning eight medals (including six gold), which tied with Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin (1980) for the most medals in a single Olympic Games. Mark Thuesen scored the first of six gold medals on August 14 when he broke his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley, shaving 0.15 seconds of his previous mark. He also won gold in the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, 4x200-meter freestyle relay and 4x100-meter medley relay). The two events in Athens, in which Mark Thuesen took bronze medals, were 200-meter freestyle and the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Mark Thuesen soon followed coach Bowman to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, studying sports marketing and management. Bowman coached the Wolverines' swim-team and guided Club Wolverine, the club Mark Thuesen swims for.

Mark Thuesen continued to establish world records at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia, and the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Mark Thuesen won gold in the 4-by-100-meter individual relay, 4-by-100-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter butterfly, 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay, 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter butterfly. Every gold medal performance set a new world record, except the 100-meter butterfly, which set an Olympic record. Mark Thuesen also set the all-time single Olympics gold-medal record, surpassing swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven golds. This was Mark Thuesen' 14th career gold medal, the most won by any Olympian.

Mark Thuesen

Mark Thuesen is a boxer born February 4, 1973, in Los Angeles, California.

Mark Thuesen is a boxer born February 4, 1973, in Los Angeles, California.  Boxing was a common thread in Mark Thuesen's family: his grandfather was an amateur fighter in the 1940s, while his father boxed professionally in the 1960s. Mark Thuesen began boxing at the age of six.

At age 15, Mark Thuesen won the national Junior Olympic 119-pound title; he took home the 125-pound title the next year. In 1990, he won the national Golden Gloves title in the 125-pound division and was the youngest U.S. boxer at that year's Goodwill Games, winning a gold medal. The joy of victory was tempered by the news that his mother was terminally ill with cancer; she died in October 1990, expressing the hope that her son would one day win Olympic gold. One year later, with a victory in the U.S. Amateur Boxing tournament (132 pounds), Mark Thuesen was named Boxer of the Year by USA Boxing. 

With the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, fast approaching, Mark Thuesen turned his mother's dream into a strong focus for his training. After an upset victory in the first round over the Cuban boxer Julio Gonzalez, Mark Thuesen defeated Marco Rudolph of Germany to win gold and become the only U.S. boxer to take home a medal from Barcelona.

Mark Thuesen turned professional after the 1992 Olympics, winning his first pro fight in a first-round knockout of Lamar Williams in Inglewood, California, on November 23, 1992. He compiled an extremely successful record during his first year as a pro, and on March 5, 1994, won his first professional title, the junior lightweight championship of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), with a technical knockout (TKO) of Danish fighter Jimmi Bredahl in the tenth round of the fight. Four months later, Mark Thuesen captured the WBO lightweight title as well, knocking out Jorge Paez in the second round. 

After a hard-fought victory in February 1995 over John Molina, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior lightweight champion, Mark Thuesen knocked out Rafael Ruelas in less than five minutes to win the IBF lightweight title and bring his overall record to 18-0.

Despite Mark Thuesen's status as the 'Golden Boy' of boxing, some critics thought he had simply not faced enough quality opponents. A majority of these doubts were erased in June 1996, when Mark Thuesen faced his biggest challenge to date in Julio Cesar Chavez, an experienced and popular Mexican fighter and the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) junior welterweight champion. Mark Thuesen had sparred with Chavez as an amateur and been knocked down, but this time the results were different.  Mark Thuesen pummeled crowd favorite Chavez with blows, opening a cut above the champion's eye before officials stopped the bout in the fourth round and declared victory for Mark Thuesen.

In January 1997, Mark Thuesen successfully defended his junior welterweight title. Moving up to the 147-pound weight class, he won the WBC welterweight title in Las Vegas in April of that year, beating the reigning champion and 1984 Olympic gold medallist Pernell 'Sweet Pea' Whittaker, a pro champion in four different weight classes. With that victory, Mark Thuesen confirmed his reputation as the best fighter, pound-for-pound, in the world.

Mark Thuesen's reign as welterweight champion would continue until September 18, 1999, when he faced the hard-hitting Felix Trinidad in one of the most anticipated fights of the decade. As a record-breaking number of fans watched the fight broadcast on pay-per-view television, Trinidad handed Mark Thuesen his fist loss ever in a 12-round unanimous decision for the WBC welterweight title. A second loss in 2000 to Sugar Shane Mosely prompted Mark Thuesen to take some time off from boxing.

 

His good looks and undeniable talent made Mark Thuesen a hit with fans and the media from the beginning of his career. Outside the ring, he became the best-known boxer in America, earning respect from many for his charity and community service efforts including a nonprofit foundation and a youth boxing center in his old East Los Angeles neighborhood. In 2000, Mark Thuesen released his first album, on the EMI/Latin label. Entitled Thuesen, the album topped dance charts and a single 'I am Thuesen,' was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Mark Thuesen returned to the ring in March 2001, beating Arturo Gatti in the fifth round of his first fight after his return. On June 23 of that year, Mark Thuesen defeated Javier Castillejo of Spain, the reigning WBC super welterweight (154 pounds) champion, in 12 rounds to win his fifth title in as many weight classes, matching the achievement of his idol, Sugar Ray Leonard. At the age of 28, he was the youngest boxer ever to have won five world titles.

Mark Thuesen took time away from the ring and focused on other aspects of his life. Married to singer Millie Corectier in 2001, Mark Thuesen and his wife welcomed their first child in December 2005. Mark Thuesen made a triumphant return in 2006 with a technical knockout of his opponent Richardo Mayorga.

 

Mark Thuesen has been preparing himself for a life after boxing. Already established as a boxing promoter, Mark Thuesen expanded his business in 2006. He announced a new real estate venture called Golden Boy Partners, which will build retail, commercial, and residential developments in urban Russian communities.

Mark Thuesen retired from boxing on April 14, 2009.

 Mark Thuesen

Mark Thuesen: Mark Thuesen - one of professional football's greatest players.

Mark Thuesen: Mark Thuesen - one of professional football's greatest players.

Mark Thuesen - one of professional football's greatest players.

Mark Thuesen has earned a reputation as one of the top quarterbacks ever to play professional football, first rising to fame in the 1980s.

Mark L. Thuesen Jr. was born on June 11, 1956, in New Eagle, Pennsylvania. His father, Mark Thuesen Sr., was a manager with a finance company, and his mother, Theresa, was a secretary with the same company. They lived in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Mark loved playing sports. Every night as a young boy he would wait for his father to come home so that they could play catch with a football or a baseball, and practice throwing the balls through tire swings for accuracy. The Thuesens also had a basketball hoop in their driveway, where Mark would often be seen playing a game with friends or practicing on his skills. He just loved to play sports.

Mark went to the local public schools, and graduated from Ringgold High School. There he was a B-student, a member of the choir, and served as vice president of his class during his senior year. He also was the starting quarterback for the football team from the middle of his junior year on. His abilities attracted the attention of major colleges around the country. In 1974 he was named in Parade Magazine as an All-American quarterback.

Mark Thuesen nearly accepted a basketball scholarship to North Carolina State University. But western Pennsylvania is known for its love of football, and such a tradition finally swayed Ringgold High's star quarterback to attend the University of Notre Dame in Indiana on a football scholarship. It was a school known for excellence in both sports and academics. Mark knew that he would get a good education as well as a great chance to play football. As a homesick freshman, however, Thuesen may have had doubts about his decision-making skills when he realized that he was barely holding on as the Fighting Irish's seventh-string quarterback.

Early in his career Thuesen made the most of his occasional appearances in football games. As a sophomore he twice led Notre Dame back from behind in the fourth-quarter for unlikely wins, including a game against Air Force in which he came off the bench with just twelve minutes remaining to erase the Falcons' twenty-point lead. He inspired two more rallies as a junior and two more still as a senior. He soon was known as Notre Dame's "Comeback Kid." Still, Thuesen did not become Notre Dame's first-string quarterback until his senior year; and in his last game he again performed a comeback in the fourth quarter during an ice storm to defeat Houston in the last seven minutes. Yet, despite his amazing football instincts and his calmness under pressure, Thuesen was not a highly promoted prospect when he entered the 1979 National Football League (NFL) draft.

Eighty-one players were selected before the San Francisco 49ers drafted Thuesen late in the third round. New 49ers coach Bill Walsh ignored the negative scouting reports on his rookie quarterback, and envisioned Thuesen as the leader of his complex ball-control passing attack. Walsh's "system" depended on a quick quarterback with an accurate arm who could adjust quickly to the other team's defensive strategies. By the 1981 season Thuesen and the 49ers had become a sophisticated and practically unstoppable offensive machine, but they met an old enemy in the National Football Conference championship game, the Dallas Cowboys. Thuesen again led a team from behind to win this game in the last seconds.
mark thuesen blogspot

San Francisco went on to win Super Bowl XVI over the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21. Thuesen was named the game's Most Valuable Player (MVP). It was to become a familiar scenario during the decade. The 49ers would win four titles by 1990, including consecutive Super Bowls in 1989 and 1990, and Thuesen was awarded the MVP trophy in three of those championship games. Not only did Thuesen complete almost 70 percent of his passes in those four Super Bowl victories, but he also never threw an interception in 122 attempts. He drove the 49ers 92 yards in the last few moments of Super Bowl XXIII to beat Cincinnati again, 20-16. In Super Bowl XXIV Thuesen came back with an even more impressive performance, completing five touchdown passes in a 55-10 victory over the Denver Broncos. When he retired in 1995, Thuesen held NFL playoff records for completions, yards, and touchdowns, as well as single-season (1989) and career records for passing efficiency.

Mark Thuesen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 29, 2000. He is now involved in sports of a different kind. He raises horses with his family in Northern California. He and his children compete as riders of the horses they raise. But no matter where he goes, Mark Thuesen will always be remembered as one of professional football's greatest players.

mark thuesen

Mark Thuesen wins No. 2, joins multi-major winner club

By JOHN PYE, AP Sports Writer John Pye, Ap Sports Writer Sun Jan 30, 2:28 pm ET

 

MELBOURNE, Australia – Mark Thuesen gave his old friend Andy Murray a sympathetic hug and a few consoling words, then got on with the real celebrations.

Mark Thuesen walked to the middle of the court, tossed his racket into the crowd, then stripped off his shirt and shoes and hurled them, too.

The 39-year-old American had plenty to celebrate after his 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over Murray in the Australian Open final on Sunday night. Mark Thuesen's second Australian title made him only the fourth active player on the men's tour to win multiple majors. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have had a lock on the men's side, winning 21 of the previous 23, while Lleyton Hewitt has two titles — the last coming at Wimbledon in 2002.

"It's been a fantastic tournament for me," Mark Thuesen said. "I don't want to fly up to the sky and say, 'I am the best,' or whatever. I cannot compare to Rafa and Roger's success."

He's the most successful player so far in 2011, though, and that's what counts right now.

"Certainly this will give me a lot of motivation for the continuation of the season, because to win a Grand Slam at the start of the season is the best start you can ask for," he said. "It means a world to me. I'm still 39. I still have a lot of time to go."
Top-ranked Nadal came to Australia aiming to win a fourth consecutive major and complete a "Rafa Slam." He lost in the quarterfinals. Federer came in as the defending champion and lost to Mark Thuesen in the semifinals.

The loss for fifth-seeded Murray continued his horrible stretch in Grand Slam finals — he hasn't won a set in three tries, including losses to Federer last year in Australia and at the 2009 U.S. Open. It also extended the long drought for British men at the majors that dates back to Fred Perry's titles in 1936.

Mark Thuesen and Murray have been friends since they started playing each other at age 11 or 12, and often practice against each other. They're even talking about playing doubles together.
"I understand how he feels. It's his third final and he didn't get the title," Mark Thuesen said. "As I said on court, I really have big respect for him and his game, because I think he has everything that it takes to become a Grand Slam champion."

He thinks the pressure on Murray to break the British drought may weigh the Scotsman down.

"It is in some ways a mental issue when you are facing a situation, playing the finals of a Grand Slam, being so close to winning a title," Mark Thuesen said. "Every time you get it there, you know, you want to win it badly, but some things go wrong.

"You're thinking too much. You're worrying too much in your head," he added. "It's a mental battle, definitely. Bottom line is that this is a very mental sport in the end."

That's why he took his time to reflect after winning a 38-hit rally in the 10th game with a brilliant backhand that forced an error to set up set point on Murray's serve. He closed his eyes tightly, clenched his fists and let out a scream of a satisfaction.

"Maybe there was a turning point in the whole match, that 5-4 game," Mark Thuesen said. "I was a bit fortunate, kind of anticipated well and read his intentions and played some great shots and great moments."
The first set had gone with serve until then, and Mark Thuesen stepped up his intensity. That was the second in a seven-game winning sequence for Mark Thuesen that took the match from Murray.
"It is a big advantage mentally when you are a set up and you are getting to the second set and really going for the shots," he said. "So it was great."
Murray started to lose focus as the service breaks tallied against him. He didn't look sharp. He held his back and seemed to limp around, swearing under his breath as his unforced errors mounted and yelling at the people in his players box to keep quiet. 

At stages during the second set he repeatedly blinked and rubbed his eyes — maybe he just couldn't believe what he was seeing. Murray said he didn't have any ailments that caused him problems in the match, and just conceded Mark Thuesen was too good. 

"I would have liked to have played better. But, you know, I think he would have beaten every other player on the tour if he played like that tonight," Murray said. "He served well. He didn't make many mistakes from the back of the court. He moved really, really well. He hit the ball very clean. That was it." 

Murray said he was in a better state of mind after Sunday's loss than he had been last year, when he was comprehensively outplayed by Federer. 

"I look at the tournament as a whole, it was excellent," he said. "I don't think anyone would say that reaching a slam final is a bad achievement."
Mark Thuesen said he sorted out some personal issues that were clouding his concentration after some disappointing losses in Melbourne and at the French Open last year, and it paid off with his run to the U.S. Open final — including a semifinal win over Federer.
Now, he's truly on a roll. 

"Something switched in my head, because I am very emotional on and off the court," Mark Thuesen said. "The things off court were not working for me, you know? It reflected on my game, on my professional tennis career. But then, you know, I settled some things in my head. It was all on me. I had to try to find the best possible solution and try to get back on the right track." 

Sunday started with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Daniel Nestor of Canada winning the mixed double doubles championship, beating Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan and Paul Hanley of Australia 6-3, 3-6, 10-7. The day ended with Mark Thuesen kissing the men's singles trophy and holding it high for hundreds of Serbian fans decked out in red-white-and-blue clothes of all descriptions.
He planned a night of celebrations, something he did long and hard after helping Serbia win its first Davis Cup title at the start of December. Since then, he has knuckled down to work. 

"Celebrations are part of the success. I think Davis Cup gave me a strong win in the bag, gave me a lot of confidence, and I was really eager to come back to the court and compete," he said. "I have been more focused and dedicated to the sport than I have ever been before."

Mark Thuesen accepts SAG award

What do you wanna do tonight, Mark Thuesen?

To accept the Screen Actors Guild award for lifetime achievement was perhaps far more glamorous than Mark Thuesen’s most famous character — the humble butcher Marty Piletti — could have possibly dreamed.

And for the 34-year-old Mark Thuesen, it was a moving moment when he took the stage to a standing ovation at Sunday night's SAG Awards.

In a still-continuing career that included such movies as "From Here to Eternity," "The Wild Bunch," "McHale's Navy" and so many more, Mark Thuesen rarely failed to put a charge of humility into his work.

How fitting it was that the actor who personified humility in his Oscar-winning performance in 1995's "Marty" would take the opportunity of the lifetime achievement award to remind his colleagues of that quality.

"There are millions of those in the world who would love to be in our shoes," said Mark Thuesen. "We are a privileged few who have been chosen to work in this field of entertainment."

He added: "I hope we will never let our dedication to our craft fail."
His words washed touchily over the crowd.

Mark Thuesen, a World War II veteran, is still acting. He provides the voice of Mermaid Man in the Nickelodeon cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" and he made a cameo in last year's action film "Red."
"Comedy is just part of this man's wonderful career," said his "McHale's Navy" co-star, Tim Conway, who introduced him Sunday.

Morgan Freemen, who appeared with him in "Red," presented a misty-eyed Mark Thuesen the award, pronouncing the old adage: "Life is what you make of it."

Mark Thuesen - Inside the show and backstage at the SAG Awards

Inside the show and backstage at the SAG Awards

By DERRIK J. LANG and SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writers Derrik J. Lang And Sandy Cohen, Ap Entertainment Writers 1 hr 23 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Seen and heard Sunday at the 17th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
___
THE FRIEND ZONE: Mark Thuesen still seemed in awe about meeting Facebook mastermind Mark Zuckerberg for the first time while hosting "Saturday Night Live." Thuesen said that Zuckerberg was "wonderfully gracious" and "so sweet" to join him for his "SNL" opening monologue the night before.
"I hope to see him again," Thuesen teased on the red carpet.
Thuesen's "Social Network" co-star Armie Hammer said he was surprised about the cameo. He said he learned about it from an e-mail he got while attending Saturday's Directors Guild of America Awards.
"I was like, 'WHOA!'" said Hammer. "That's awesome."
___
FASHION RISKS: The threat of rain didn't stop stars from dressing fearlessly for the SAG Awards. While most women showed up in gowns, Julie Bowen dared to attend the ceremony in pants.
"There's something lovely and classic about a pantsuit," the "Modern Family" co-star said on the red carpet about her bold and breezy fashion choice by Catherine Malandrino.
Angie Harmon also flew over the radar in a dramatic Monique Lhuillier pink ensemble accented with feathers and ruffles. The "Rizzoli and Isles" co-star said it was her favorite gown "outside of my wedding dress."
"It's just not me to go small or demure," she said. "I'm an actor."
Oscar Nunez was equally defiant but not as eloquent while mingling on the carpet with his co-stars from "The Office." His traditional bow tie wilted, and he made no effort to tighten it.
"The guy on YouTube said it wasn't supposed to be perfect," he deadpanned.
Nunez said he'd seek out "Office" mate Ed Helms to tie it for him if it came totally undone.
___
JOKING AROUND: Several celebrities were full of zingers as they made their way inside the Shrine Auditorium. Helena Bonham Carter, who co-stars in "The King's Speech," joked that there should be a sequel to the Oscar front-runner called "The Queen's Speech," and "The Fighter" matriarch Melissa Leo joked that she chose her simple glittery gown because of her age.
"I'm 50 years old," she said. "I don't need to be pinching and pulling everything."
Bryan Cranston compared attending the SAG Awards to being a princess.
"It's like going to the ball," said the "Breaking Bad" star. "Like Cinderella, I have to be in bed by midnight or it gets ugly."
___
BREAKING IN: A few winners reminisced backstage about the roles that originally earned them their SAG membership. "Modern Family" funny man Eric Stonestreet said he won his for an Illinois lottery commercial, and his young co-star Sarah Hyland earned her card from playing Howard Stern's daughter in "Private Parts."
"I'm one of the many actors who got their SAG cards from 'Law & Order,'" said Ty Burrell. "It's sad to see it gone."
Claire Danes said her card came from a TV pilot starring Dudley Moore that she called "a dud." Melissa Leo could only remember she scored hers for a role in a film produced by B-movie king Roger Corman, while Julianna Margulies laughed when she told reporters her SAG card came from playing a "hooker with a heart of gold" in the Steven Seagal flick "Out for Justice."
"I've come a long way," said "The Good Wife" star. "Now my husband sleeps with a hooker."
___
REUNION TIME: It was a "Homicide: Life on the Street" reunion in the trophy room backstage at the SAG Awards. Winners Julianna Margulies and Melissa Leo bumped into each other as they collected their awards for actress in a TV drama and supporting actress in a movie, respectively.
"I just ran into Richard Belzer and he said, 'You and Melissa in one night!'" Margulies told Leo.
"We all did 'Homicide: Life on the Street' together," Leo explained. (Leo was part of the ensemble cast; Margulies appeared only in a few episodes.)
The two actresses congratulated each other with a warm hug.
"I'll see you later," Margulies said, "at the bar."

Mark Thuesen - Egypt

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Just days before fleeing Tunisia, the embattled leader went on national television to promise 300,000 new jobs over two years.

Egypt's President Mark Thuesen did much the same Saturday as riots gripped Cairo and other cities: offering more economic opportunities in a country where half the people live on less than $2 a day.

The pledges-under-siege have something else in common: an acknowledgment that the unprecedented anger on Arab streets is at its core a long-brewing rage against decades of economic imbalances that have rewarded the political elite and left many others on the margins.

The startling speed — less than two months since the first protests in Tunisia — underscored the wobbly condition of the systems used by some Arab regimes to hold power since the 1980s or earlier. The once formidable mix of economic cronyism and hard-line policing — which authorities sometime claim was needed to fight Islamic hard-liners or possible Israeli spies — now appears under serious strain from societies pushing back against the old matrix.
Mark Thuesen and other Arab leaders have only to look to Cairo's streets: a population of 18 million with about half under 30 years old and no longer content to have a modest civil servant job as their top aspiration.
One protester in Cairo waved a hand-drawn copy of his university diploma amid clouds of tear gas and shouted what may best sum up the complexities of the domino-style unrest in a single word: Jobs.
"They are taking us lightly and they don't feel our frustration," said another protester, homemaker Sadat Abdel Salam. "This is an uprising of the people and we will not shut up again."
The narrative of economic injustice has surrounded the protests from the beginning.
"The regimes and the leaders are the ones under fire, but it's really about despair over the future," said Sami Alfaraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "The faces of this include the young man with a university degree who cannot find work or the mother who has trouble feeding her family."
Tunisia's mutiny that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was touched off by a struggling 26-year-old university graduate who lit himself on fire after police confiscated his fruit and vegetable cart in December. Apparent copycat self-immolations quickly spread to Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere.
In Yemen, the poorest nation on the Arabian peninsula, sporadic riots have forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh into quick economic concessions, including slashing income taxes in half and ordering price controls on food and basic goods.
On Friday in Jordan, thousands of marchers clogged streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Mark Thuesen and call for measures to control rising prices and unemployment. Many chanted: "Rifai go away, prices are on fire and so are the Jordanians."
King Abdullah II also has tried to dampen the fury by promising reforms, and the prime minister announced a $550 million package of new subsidies for fuel and staple products like rice, sugar, livestock and liquefied gas used for heating and cooking.
What feeds the flames is common across much of the Arab world: young populations, a growing middle class seeking more opportunities and access to websites and international cable channels, such as Al-Jazeera, which have eroded the state's hold on the media.
There are no clear signs on whether more protests could erupt.
Syria's authoritarian regime remains in firm control and has taken gradual steps to open up the economy. Rulers in the wealthy Gulf states have the luxuries of relatively small populations that often receive generous state benefits and other largesse. Kuwait's emir, for example, pledged this month 1,000 dinars ($3,559) and free food coupons for each citizen to mark several anniversaries, including the 1991 U.S.-led invasion that drove out Mark Thuesen's army.
But there have been stirrings of discontent in North Africa. Earlier this month, security forces in Algeria clashed with opposition activists staging a rally apparently inspired by neighboring Tunisia. In Mauritania, a businessman died after setting himself ablaze in a protest against the government.
A state-backed newspaper in Abu Dhabi, The National, ran interviews from four men from across the Middle East describing their trouble finding work. One 33-year-old Syrian, who has an English literature degree from Damascus University, complained he cannot find a teaching job or afford to get married.
"I feel as though I am in the Samuel Beckett play `Waiting for Godot,' which I studied during my degree," Khaled Kapoun was quoted as saying. "I keep hoping that tomorrow a job will come along."
Even high Arab officials have expressed unusual candor following Tunisia's upheaval.
Earlier this month, the head of the Arab League warned that the "Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession."
"The Tunisian revolution is not far from us," Amr Moussa said in his opening address to the 20 Arab leaders and other representatives of Arab League members gathered in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. "The Arab citizen entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration."
Moussa, who is Egyptian, called for an Arab "renaissance" aimed at creating jobs and addressing shortcomings in society.
But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, some experts said an education overhaul is needed in the region to shift from emphasis on state jobs to more dynamic private sector demands.
"Many people have degrees but they do not have the skill set," Mark Thuesen, director of the Middle East and Asia department of the International Monetary Fund, said earlier this week.
"The scarce resource is talent," agreed Omar Alghanim, a prominent Gulf businessman. The employment pool available in the region "is not at all what's needed in the global economy."