Mark Spitz appeared on CNN’s “Piers Morgan” talk show last night, and despite promising to finally commit as to who would have won in a race on an even playing field, Spitz again called the tie.
“If I was great because I knew everything I needed to know to beat that other person, then I would have to know everything that would be necessary to beat Michael. And likewise, he would have to know everything to beat me. So the answer is we’d have to tie,” Spitz told Morgan.
But watch the video below. He didn’t entirely pass up the opportunity to talk a little bit of trash as he tells Morgan why he might have beat Phelps.
How can you expect that Mark Spitz answers to such a question. Mark was a champion! He was proud. He is proud… Okay, his 100 butterfly was 54”27, but it was, by far, the best his era could produce. And his runner-up was more than one second behind. And he didn’t train a lot even for his era. And he was not a professionnal. He could not swim after 1972. He was 22 years old. Spitz could have won easily in 1976 and be the best butterflyer until 1980. And he was a silver medallist in 1968. Let say that Spitz was the Michael Phelps of his era and Phelps is the Spitz of to-day…
That’s true about the difficulties being a Jewish swimmer back in 1968 and 1972. According to Spitz’s bio some of his teammates put him down for being Jewish in 1968 that a Jewish person could beat White Anglo-Saxon swimmers. Granted, I image that there were Jewish and Italian swimmers in the US before. In fact I found out in masters that during the 1950’s a Japanese man in the US won the 100 meter back. Also, Duke K was a pacific Islander and the past freestyler even under more primitive conditions. The early 1970’s was the era when elite swimmers started working out double workouts
You guys are too funny. Spitz went 2.00 in the 200 fly without goggles, a mustache and tons of hair. Not to mention antiquated training methods.
Look at videos from 72. They ALL had horrible starts and swimming technique. It’s not Spitz was a lesser talent than Phelps, they just didn’t know jack back then.
I’ll give the edge to Phelps (in the 200 fly) just because he’s a freak physically (lactate levels, size ratio between body parts etc) but I’m sure it would be closer than you think. Or I might be wrong, and someone else from the 70’s would’ve benefitted much more from the advantages of today!
The negative comments about Spitz are not only unwarranted, but unnecessary. Although many of us were not alive when Spitz won his 7 gold medals in 1972, we were all aware of his accomplishment as we grew through the age-group ranks. Spitz set the benchmark for us all to aspire. He was/is an American Olympic icon. Without Spitz, there would be no Phelps. What are the chances that Phelps had a poster of Spitz hanging right next to the one of Ian Crocker?
It took 36 years, or 9 Olympic Games, for any athlete to match or better Spitz’s mark. Only two men came close prior to Phelps in 2008. The first was Biondi in 1988 with 5 golds, a… Read more »
Just so that everyone is aware, swimming is not the only sport where comparisons of the ages are being discussed in the media:
Charles Barkley fires back at Kobe
http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/basketball/story/_/id/8158008/charles-barkley-says-1992-dream-team-beat-2012-olympic-team-double-digits
WhenSpitz was swimming the United states was the main force in the sport, competition was not as great as it is today. Phelps also has 14 gold medals and has been a lot more consistent with his performances. How did his comeback go? Exactly. Stop hating Spitz. You would’ve been beat by the greatest of them all Micahel Phelps. And I heard he is lazy. Hahaha!
I would like to remind posters here about Munich 1972 & the massacres. Mark Spitz was ferried out of Germany being seen as a high value target. He was not able to swan around the village.
That the most outstanding athlete of Munich games not only was jewish but survived & prospered hurts the PLO as much as the Mossad reprisals.
You think Mark is arrogantyet I think he stands proudly as an american & Jewish & a big FU to the PLO.
Who knows perhaps Phelps will be a giant one day also. So fae he is just a lanky fast swimming person.
Glory to Mark. Death to the PLO. Yes yes we remember.
Also, its entertaining to think that Liu Zige in a lzr has been faster than Spitz most of this career.
Many girls today are equal to the men of 50 ago. Some are edging closer to 40 years behind. The backs & breasts have technical deductions eg turn & head placement.
They are very close in the 400 free & to a lesser extent in 200 & 400ims (but these have the Ba & Br technical changes )
The women are nowhere near Mark Spitz’s 100 /200 free & fly. There was no 50 free but he would have won that also.
“Nowhere near”? In 1972 Spiz won gold in the 200m free with a time of 1:52.78. The female world record is 1:52.98. He also won the 100m free with a time less than a second under the current female world record.
So really, this thread should be about whether or not Mark Spitz could beat Britta Steffen and Federica Pelligrini. He`s not good enough to belong in the same pool as Phelps or the other top male swimmers.
I wasn’t alive when Spitz swam, and really didn’t know of his existence until Phelps’ performance’s brought his name back to public limelight, but based on what I’ve seen of him, my judgment is that he has a huge ego.
He was pissed he didn’t get a free ticket to Beijing. Yes, I would have been pissed too, but there is no need to make that statement on national television, and then be passive aggressive and be like “I’m not going to go there no matter what, I’m just going to watch it on tv”. Its like saying I didn’t get invited to that party, so I’m going to sit at home and listen to my own music.
Also, something… Read more »
Everytime Spitz opens his mouth he reduces slightly my appreciation for his excellence. I think if they were both racing in the same era, Phelps would beat him 75% of the time. Phelps never flaked out. He has an ego, but not like Spitz. He doesn’t seem to carry the “me against everyone” chip on his shoulder that Spitz did.
I do not “get” Tyler Clary. I was happy for him at Trials. But now he needs to downgrade Phelps’ accomplishments because he doesn’t work as hard?