Former Legendary Swimmer Whose Record Michael Phelps Broke at 2008 Olympics Once Claimed He Knew “Everything About How to Beat Michael”

In 2008, Michael Phelps emerged victorious at the Beijing Olympics with a medal haul of eight golds, breaking Mark Spitz’s record of seven that had been standing for 36 years. Phelps earned seven of those eight titles in world record-breaking times, and the eight set an Olympic record.

Even though they competed in different eras of the sport, many fans wonder who would win between Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, and Mark Spitz, the nine-time champion. If you ask Spitz, he can tell you the result of this hypothetical match with absolute certainty.

Mark Spitz says he wouldn’t lose to Michael Phelps

Mark Spitz set the record for most Olympic titles won in a single event at seven in the 1972 Munich Games. When he watched Michael Phelps shatter that record in 2008, he believed that Phelps might be able to do even better in the next Olympics. But if the two swimmers were to square off in their primes, Spitz does not doubt that he wouldn’t have lost to Phelps. 

The mentality of the greatest swimmers, he claims, makes all the difference. Spitz believes that both of them would approach the race with similar tactics. “I think that the relationship between people that are great is they have a common thread of knowing how to beat their competitors and they know how to constantly be in shape and in top form,” Spitz told the Daily News.

And since they both have the physical capacity to push beyond the bounds of their physicality, there would be no winner of the competition. “If that’s the case, I’d know everything about how to beat Michael,” he said. “He’d also know everything to beat me. We’d have to tie.” 

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Watching Phelps break his record didn’t shake Spitz in the slightest. After all, records are meant to be broken. But even with younger and more talented swimmers popping up at a rapid pace, perhaps Phelps’ legacy of 28 Olympic medals would take a little longer to overtake.

The comparison between Phelps and Spitz

While Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz have both established themselves as legendary swimmers, it becomes hard to put up a fair comparison when they come from such different eras. Every generation of athletes can push the boundaries of their sports further with the help of advancements in technology and increasingly effective training.

Physically, Phelps, who stands about 4 inches taller than Spitz at 6’4” and has an even longer wingspan of 6.66 feet, has the biological advantage. In their record-setting Olympic runs, Beijing 2008 for Phelps and Munich 1972 for Spitz, they both set seven world records each. 

While Phelps comfortably won six of his eight golds, he nearly missed out on two. A difference of 0.01 seconds in the 100m butterfly, and 0.08 seconds in the 4x100m freestyle relay. The only event where Spitz struggled to get a good margin came in the 100m freestyle where Jerry Heidenreich trailed him by 0.43 seconds.

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What do you think would happen if the two American swimming icons went head-to-head in their peak conditions?