Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub

[tmh8286]

Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub

by Polly Hui

Aug 11, 2:23 am EDT

HONG KONG (AFP) - US swim legend Mark Spitz won't be on hand in Beijing if Michael Phelps breaks his record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics—because, he says, no one bothered to invite him.

Spitz said the International Olympic Committee, a US television network or FINA—the international body that governs world swimming—should have brought him to the Games this year, with Phelps making a go at his record.

"I never got invited. You don't go to the Olympics just to say, I am going to go. Especially because of who I am," Spitz told AFP in Hong Kong.

"I am going to sit there and watch Michael Phelps break my record anonymously? That's almost demeaning to me. It is not almost—it is."

Spitz became one of the most famous athletes in the world at the 1972 Munich Olympics, winning seven gold medals—with seven world records—in what many consider to be one of the greatest achievements in all of sport.

Phelps is aiming to better that mark in Beijing, hoping to bring home eight golds. And Spitz, now 58 and grey and without his trademark moustache, cannot understand why he wasn't asked along to see the show.

"They voted me one of the top five Olympians in all time. Some of them are dead. But they invited the other ones to go to the Olympics, but not me," he said. "Yes, I am a bit upset about it."

Now a stockbroker and motivational speaker, Spitz also thinks he could have won eight golds himself in Munich if only he had had the chance.

"I won seven events. If they had the 50m freestyle back then, which they do now, I probably would have won that too," he said.

Spitz, whose brief stint in show business in the 1970s never quite matched his success in the pool, said he attended the Athens Olympics four years ago—when Phelps also tried to break the record.

"They did not once put my face on television," he recalled. "But as soon as the swimming was over, and Michael Phelps didn't break my record, every time I went to beach volley, they put my face on the volleyballs."

Spitz said it would have been a great idea if he could be the one presenting the gold medals to Phelps, who has for years been candid about his ambition to eclipse the mark of seven golds.

And Spitz thinks Phelps will succeed—for one very good reason.

"He's almost identical to me. He's a world-record holder in all these events, so he is dominating the events just like I did," Spitz said. "He reminds me of myself."

[Bogus Smith]

Now there is a man who doesn't lack self-confidence! 

[Mike Minyard]

What kept him from picking up the phone to encourage Phelps as he makes the chase for the record???

[ORUTerry]

Our family has been wondering why there is no mention or sighting of Mark Spitz at the Olympics. Especially given the fact that it appears his record is going to be eclipsed. If this is true, it is a major snub of a great Olympian.

[tmh8286]

I see two sides to this - he is ABSOLUTELY right - given the nature of his accomplishments and the record that he set that has held for over thirty years, he SHOULD HAVE been invited to attend and participate in the event where those records were likely to fall.  I don't blame him a bit for feeling snubbed.  SOMEONE should have seen to it that he was there.  for all the human interest stories that NBC loves to run, what could have been better than to have Mark Spitz there to see his record fall.

On the other hand, he's coming across sounding a little like sour grapes.  I think he's got a huge ego, like many successful athletes (although he went to DENTAL SCHOOL and became an orthodontist, and I don't know how anyone can have an ego left after going through that), and I think that this situation bruised it.  I've known about this for several days, posted the article last night, but now this AM the mainstream press had picked up on it and are making a big deal about it.  The overall situation may end up just making him look bad - but then again, maybe not!

[Mike Minyard]

I agree with you tmh.  There are two sides to this issues.  Yes, someone should have contacted him and made arrangements for him to be present if he desired.  However, I don't think it is fair for him to say it was someone else's responsibility to make sure he was happy with everything.  At some point he has to understand that he doesn't necessarily have to meet them halfway, but he does need to make a little effort.

Honestly I don't think anything would make this guy happy based off the single article I've read about him.

[tmh8286]

I agree with you tmh.  There are two sides to this issues.  Yes, someone should have contacted him and made arrangements for him to be present if he desired.  However, I don't think it is fair for him to say it was someone else's responsibility to make sure he was happy with everything.  At some point he has to understand that he doesn't necessarily have to meet them halfway, but he does need to make a little effort.

Honestly I don't think anything would make this guy happy based off the single article I've read about him.

Excellent points, Mike, I agree with every one, including the last one.  My thought on it is, given the attitude that is apparently revealed in that article, we don't know how many bridges that guy has burned over the years, and maybe all of those people and organizations that should have wanted him there don't want any part of him at this point.  I wondered what is revealed in the comments about Phelps - ego on Spitz' part that Phelps wasn't in awe, or attitude on the part of Phelps that Spitz was no big deal, or what, but if there had been any warm fuzzies between them at the picture-taking times, then I think somehow there would have been some interaction or contact or something - a phone call, like Mike said - in the last twenty four hours.

The thing is, this article may not be a good reflection of Spitz' attitude at all - it might be a few statements he made in a longer interview, taken totally out of context.  I suppose we'll get a clearer picture as the media works this story over the next couple of days.

(Actually, when I re-read the article, Spitz doesn't make any mention of meeting Phelps - I must have read that somewhere else.  He said they've taken a few pictures together, but that was about it.  They never really connected.)

[tmh8286]

Here's a Today Show interview from this morning of an incredibly gracious and immensely likable Mark Spitz that appears to set the record straight.

We may have rushed to judgment on him  . . .

(It's a little hard to reconcile the statements in the article with what he says in this interview, though.  He was either badly misquoted, or has altered his position.)

[SpaceManSpiff]

This video is from July 15. He doesn't seem upset here either.

He just explains how Phelp's schedule will be grueling and that his teammate Ryan Lochte wants to beat him.

[Mike Minyard]

It's funny how the media can sometimes make the story.  Spitz seems like a pretty good guy.  That's why I said my opinion was based off the single article posted in this thread.  I still think he could have picked up a phone though.

[tmh8286]

It's funny how the media can sometimes make the story.  Spitz seems like a pretty good guy.  That's why I said my opinion was based off the single article posted in this thread.  I still think he could have picked up a phone though.

He may have - he probably did - we really don't know.

[tmh8286]

Others probably saw that they had Spitz and Phelps on in an interview this evening, and by all appearances the admiration expressed between the two was effusive and mutual. 

I think the subject of this thread was a tempest in a teapot.