Still wet behind the ears
AMERICAN swimmer Michael Phelps may have surpassed Mark Spitz with five world records in a single championship but the acid test of his greatness will come at next year's Athens Olympics, experts say.
After Phelps's glittering performance in the world championships, which ended last week, comparisons with his compatriot are inevitable, despite changes in the sport since Spitz won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics.
But even though Phelps is ahead of Spitz's performance at the same age, he must show he can still win now that he is number one. Phelps, who turned 18 last month, set an unprecedented five individual world records in six days in Barcelona, outdoing Spitz, who collected four solo world marks at the 1972 Games.
But, said former Australian national coach Don Talbot, Phelps "hasn't experienced an Olympics where he's been at the top. It's very different from climbing the ladder -- much tougher to do."
Spitz had shown greatness by coming back from defeats. "I think we've got to wait and see with Phelps," Talbot said.
Bob Bowman, Phelps's coach, said the Baltimore resident "has got to show improvement from one Olympics to the next and then he's got to do it again. It's a long way to go."
Phelps dominated his events in Barcelona in a way that revived memories of Spitz in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His most stunning achievement came on Friday, when he set a world record of 51.47 seconds in the 100 metres butterfly semi-finals, breaking the mark set by Andriy Serdinov of Ukraine five minutes earlier.
After having a quick swim to loosen up and wolfing down an energy bar, Phelps returned less than 50 minutes later to win the 200 individual medley (IM) in one minute 56.04 seconds, his second record of the championships over the distance.
Phelps also won the 200 butterfly, setting a world record in the semi-finals and closed the championships by bettering his own world record in the 400 metres individual medley.
Phelps, who made the US Olympic team at 15, is a throwback to the Spitz era when many top swimmers peaked as teenagers or in their early 20s.
Spitz set his first world mark in the 400 freestyle in June 1967 and added the 100 and 200 butterfly records a few weeks later. Spitz set 23 individual world marks, equalled three and added five relay records by the time his career finished at the age of 22.
He came back from a disappointing 1968 Olympics where he won two relay golds, a silver and a bronze to take golds in the 100 and 200 butterfly, the 100 and 200 freestyle and three relays -- also in record-breaking times -- at the 1972 Munich Games.
Bowman said Spitz and Phelps both had speed and were good butterfly swimmers. Phelps "can swim the IMs, he can swim backstroke, he can do freestyle", he said. "So I would think in terms of versatility, overall potential, I would rank him right up there with Mark."
At 1.93 metres and weighing 87kg, Phelps is 75mm taller and nine kg heavier than Spitz, giving him more power. However, Spitz was famed for his textbook technique and outstanding flexibility that let him swim the butterfly in a powerful S-curve.
"Butterfly and freestyle, he was the man that I liked," said Talbot, who oversaw the resurgence of Australian swimming in the 1980s and 1990s.
Swimming has changed markedly since Spitz, now a Los Angeles entrepreneur, hung up his trunks. Swimmers can get corporate sponsorship and prize money that let them continue competing until well into their 20s or even 30s. Phelps has turned professional and foregone university competition, a main training ground for US swimmers, to keep working out in Baltimore.
"Michael is understanding of the fact that if there is no performance, there is no money," Bowman said.
Spitz swam in an era when the Olympics was the only real international test and all records were set in long-course, 50-metre pools. Now, swimming has short- and long-course world championships every two years, a World Cup circuit and many more events.
Training is more professional and scientific, especially in nutrition. When Spitz was swimming, weight training, now universal, was mainly for sprinters and middle-distance swimmers. "We've got a better product" today, Talbot said. "Somebody could be better than Phelps. He could jump up next week, for all we know, from another nation."
