MARK SPITZ SAYS HE IS DEMEANED

Mark Spitz states he was never invited to the 2008 Beijing Olympics to see if Michael Phelps would/will break his record.

Spitz claims the International Olympic Committee, a US television network (cough, NBC, cough), or FINA should have brought him to see the games.

Spitz tells the AFP in Hong Kong:

"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...." 

"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."


"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."

 He went to the games in Athens and watched Phelps compete; Spitz quips:

"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 believes if they had 50m freestyle in the '72 games he would have a gold medal for that.

Spitz thinks Phelps will succeed:

"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."

We can't agree more with Spitz...that is an almost travesty and certainly a dishonor not to invite one of the most iconic Olympic figures to watch the passing of the torch.

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