Michael Phelps' pursuit of Mark Spitz's epic performance at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, will more than likely dominate headlines over the first week of the Beijing games. The 23 year-old swimmer from Baltimore will take a shot at Spitz's record of capturing the most gold medals in a single Olympics. No one will be more interested in seeing the attempt than Spitz himself, who won seven golds 36 years ago with a full moustache and without the benefit of today's high performance swimsuits. Ea Read more

Michael Phelps' pursuit of Mark Spitz's epic performance at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, will more than likely dominate headlines over the first week of the Beijing games. The 23 year-old swimmer from Baltimore will take a shot at Spitz's record of capturing the most gold medals in a single Olympics. No one will be more interested in seeing the attempt than Spitz himself, who won seven golds 36 years ago with a full moustache and without the benefit of today's high performance swimsuits. Each of Spitz's seven gold medal performances also broke existing world records. Phelps fell short of equaling that record in Athens four years ago after a bid by the US 4x100 relay freestyle team fell short.
"I would have never thought that 36 years later I would be sitting here talking about a record that theoretically I have. My record is not a contested event. It just so happens that I have swum in seven events and won seven of those medals. Michael has a programme of eight events and he's not swimming the same combination. In one sense, it's almost irrelevant to make a comparison that way. But a gold medal is a gold medal and I feel honoured," Spitz told Reuters in Los Angeles.
While both Phelps and Spitz may have grown weary of being asked about each other, both will no doubt be bombarded with questions over the coming weeks.
"I want to be the first Michael Phelps. I don't want to be the second Mark Spitz," Pelps recently told reporters at the US training camp in northern California.
Spitz says he cannot offer any technical advice to a swimmer of Phelps' accomplishments but did whisper a few words in his ear at an awards ceremony.
Spitz said he told Phelps: "Do whatever you have to do. You know what you're doing."
"I said just devote enough time to yourself so you become selfish to the press. Give them what they need but then you have to close it off and that's exactly what I reccomend now. But he knows that."
Spitz, who currently works as a spokesman for Medco, a pharmacy company, along with a number of other former Olympians, was quite dismissive of the latest innovations in the sport.
"I mean I had long hair, I didn't wear goggles, I had a little suit that was nylon, it wasn't even clingy yet I broke world records. If you really thought that that swimsuit made you faster then I'm buying Tiger Woods' golf clubs because I think I can be competitive. The reality is it's not the swimsuit that taking the guys across the pool fast. It's the guy in the swimsuit stroking the suit fast," Spitz explains.
Phelps currently has a sizable endorsement deal with Speedo, the company that developed the advanced LazerRacer suit which he will reportedly wear in China. Spitz becomes annimated when explaining the physics of the suit and says that over longer distances the suit is actually a drag on swimmers.
"It's a marketing tool and at about 700 (dollars) a copy, they basically give them away and they only last about two hours and I think you rip about one out of every four you get on. It's not something that a swimming age group parents are going to be too happy about buying."
Spitz believes that the experience Phelps gained in Athens will help him in Beijing and that barring injury or illness the world will see a new swimming coronation. At 23, Phelps already owns eight Olympic medals, including six golds, and holds four world records. Close