UPDATED:

Looks like I’ve missed the boat on this one. See the comments and also the article from three days before the one below sent to me by a friend. Spitz, once the star, upset over Beijing snub.

I clearly need to stick to topics where I have somewhat of a clue.

“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.”

Original Post

Mark Spitz says it much better than I will:

“Listen, this has lasted for 36 years,” Spitz told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer on Thursday. “It’s a long time. It’s about time that somebody else takes the throne. And I’m very happy for him. I really truly am.

“Somebody once told me that greatness is a manner of measure which others judge themselves by,” Spitz said. “And I think if Michael has judged his dreams by something that I have done, then I take that as a compliment — and I’m willing and ready, and so excited for him.”

It’s rare that you see people so graceful as they watch others prepare to surpass their achievements.

Source: Spitz on Phelps - TODAY in Beijing - MSNBC.com