Phelps is great, but so was Spitz

First appeared on August 20th, 2008
in The Lebanon Reporter

Simply put-Michael Phelps can’t be human. We’ve decided it’s more likely he is half man, half horse and half fish; if it’s even possible to have that many halves. The majority of his races haven’t even been close. There have been stretches where he has looked more like a pace car than an actual competitor. He has been the top story of these Olympics since the opening night and rumor has it when the games are over Michael Phelps is going to swim home.
The world slid to the edge of their seats Saturday night as he zeroed in on one of those few remaining records so many believed would never be broken; seven gold medals in a single Olympics. In 1972 Mark Spitz won seven gold medals at the Munich summer games swimming for team USA. Now, in breaking the record, Phelps has somehow made achieving the impossible appear ordinary. He is a 12,000 calorie a day water rocket (we don’t know what that is, but it sounds fast) that has taken Beijing by storm. Yet as he shattered that which so many believed indestructible there was one notable figure missing from the stands of Beijing’s water cube.
Inexplicably Mark Spitz was not invited to attend the Olympics in Beijing. One might think that, given it was so widely predicted Phelps would break Spitz’s record, the U.S. Olympic Committee might have extended the guy a personal invitation to witness history.
It seems only fitting that there be some sort of controversy surrounding Mark Spitz. It has shadowed him for most of his life. His first widely publicized taste came in the 1968 games in Mexico City where he brashly predicted he would win 6 gold medals only to leave with 2. From 1968-72 he trained at Indiana University where he earned both a bachelors degree and the nickname “Mark the Shark” after amassing 8 NCAA titles. But all this came at the expense of some who dismissed him as aloof.
In 1972 Spitz dominated the Munich summer games amidst a whirlwind of controversy. For starters he spit in the eye of conventionality by swimming with a mustache that would have made even Magnum P.I. jealous. After winning 6 gold medals and setting 6 world records, Spitz also drew the ire of some when he contemplated sitting out his last race for fear of jeopardizing his perfect record. At the last moment he raced and won; setting yet another world record.
Spitz’s participation in the German backed games was also controversial because of his Jewish faith. Beyond the lingering animosity of the anti-Semitic Hitler regime, the hostage standoff involving members of Israel’s Olympic team only complicated matters. As a Jewish athlete who had dominated the games, the West Germans feared for his safety and didn’t allow him to hang around for the closing ceremonies; he was assigned a special security detail and hustled back to the states.
After his Olympic days were over, many involved with USA swimming hoped Spitz would become an ambassador for the sport. Instead he answered the call of Hollywood, cashing in on lucrative endorsements and cameo parts. He was Peyton Manning before Peyton Manning was Peyton Manning.
The man who held 26 world records, was named one of the five greatest athletes of the century by the International Olympic Committee and was also the only swimmer to crack ESPN”s list of the 50 greatest athletes of all time was not present to see his own record being broken. Say what you want about the guy, Mark Spitz should have been there.