Spitz backing Phelps bid

Mark Spitz expects to be displaced as the most successful swimmer at one Olympics when fellow American Michael Phelps bids for eight gold medals at the Beijing Games.

Phelps won six gold medals – as well as two bronze – in Athens four years ago, falling one short of Spitz’s record haul of seven set in Munich in 1972.

Thirty-six years on from his own miraculous feat, Spitz, who claimed nine Olympic golds in all, having won two in Mexico City in 1968, anticipates the 23-year-old from Baltimore will top the podium in all eight events he has entered in the XXIX Olympiad.

“Phelps is going to be really strong,” Spitz told PA Sport.

“I’d say there’s maybe a three or four percent chance that he’s not going to win eight gold medals and it will only be because he might get sick or something like that, some unforeseen situation.”

Prior to the Athens Games, Spitz made the same prediction.

However, he now believes Phelps, whose first swim will be in Saturday’s 400metres individual medley heats, has improved going into his third Games – he swam in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay as a 15-year-old in Sydney.

“He’s definitely a better swimmer now,” added the 58-year-old, who was in Hong Kong on business.

“He’s got more experience and in five individual events four years ago, he only held the world record in three of them.

“Now he has the world record in the 200 free, he’s 20% stronger statistically.

“But we don’t swim on paper, we have to swim in the pool, so we’ll see what happens.”

Phelps holds four world records out of five individual events, with Ian Crocker in possession of the 100m butterfly best of 50.40 seconds, 0.37secs better than his team-mate.

Ryan Lochte is also going to pose a threat, having pushed Phelps all the way in the individual medley events at the United States Olympic trials in June.

“I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” added Spitz.

“The 100m fly will be one of his hardest races: whenever he has won it has only been by a fraction of a second; it’s also his seventh race and comes well into the programme on the seventh day of competition.

“The world record holder is swimming there and Ian Crocker could all of a sudden go ’I’m going to have the race of my life again’.

“And Ryan Lochte’s going to have a real go at Phelps, so we’ll see what happens.”