The ever humble Mark Spitz....Is this guy for real?!?

[Fonzie]

Just saw this article, and was dumbfounded by his humility. Whether or not he has a valid point was immediately eclipsed by his ginormous ego as I was reading this article!

I'm too young to remember.......Was he this big an ass back in his hayday in Munich?!? And who would want such a pompous, arrogant prick as a motivational speaker??? The IOC, NBC, & FINA probably didn't invite him because they knew he wouldn't be able to fit his BIG head into the Water Cube

Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub

by Polly Hui

Aug 11, 2:23 am EDT

Buzz Up Print

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."

[SAMBUSA]

Sounds like he has his speedo a few sizes too small

[InyaAzz]

Doesn't sound too bad to me..just sounds like he was surprised they didn't invite him. If what he is saying is true that they invited other ex olympians and not him..maybe he has a point.

I don't think he's trying to steal Phelps thunder at all..okay, maybe a lil bit. But I don't think he's talking down about him at all.

Oh yeah...by the way...GO BLUE

[ReconRat]

Ok, so I can remember that happening. He was a super hero, and he was OUR super hero. Go USA. Would you want SuperMan there for SuperBoy? Sure. In the Olympics, events like that are events of a century. It seldom, if ever, happens.

And on the other hand, I think the Olympics is about current events, not so much about history. Despite all the history behind the event.

Wars have been fought and NOT fought, based on the results of Olympic events. It's a showing of the strength of a nation.

Another one to remember is Jean-Claude Killy, the Frenchman who won all three skiing events in 1968. The world was impressed.

And a favorite, USA hockey team beating the Russian hockey team in 1976.

And if you really want history, look up Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

All these events are like landing on the Moon for the first time, you remember where you were when it happened.

[magley64]

I totally thought that when I read the article on yahoo yesterday....

"what an egotistical prick"

[EagleCock]

at least he didn't refer to himself in the third person, but yea - he's an asshole

[jagr]

NINE BEATS SEVEN AND EIGHT!!!

YOU SMUG OLD HAS BEEN!!!

[InyaAzz]

Lol