Mark Spitz is crying because no one invited him---paid his way---to the Olympics to watch Michael Phelps try to meet or beat his record, seven gold medals. Spitz thinks that NBC, or the IOC, or somebody damnit, should have brought him along to China.
"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."
I guess when you've won seven golds, 36 years ago, you can have a pretty high opinion of yourself. Then again when was the last time this guy had a chance to get back in the spotlight?
"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. I won seven events. If they had the 50m freestyle back then, which they do now, I probably would have won that too," he boasted.
Spitz thinks that it would have been a good idea for him to present the record breaking gold medals to Phelps. Gee, Mark, I wonder how much you could have charged for pictures of that, autographed of course. Spitz also shared the secret of Phelps' success, "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 bragged. "He reminds me of myself."
I think we can all see why they didn't invite you, Mark. Let go of it, bro. Your time was 30 some years ago. No one likes to see some old dude trying to hang on to his past glories. What's next, you try and kiss Suzie Kolber at poolside? You were a great champion...act like one.
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