Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz, by the numbers

America’s greatest Olympic swimmers are Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz. Here is a comparison of how they won their gold medals in 2008 and 1972, respectively.

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Comments

[Props to Phelps, but ...]

We can compare times, but can we compare situations?

What Mark Spitz did, and where he did it and at the time he did it, was more impressive than what Phelps is doing.

Phelps (who will most likely top Spitz' mark and win eight gold medals) has pressure, but I doubt he faced more pressure than Spitz, who is Jewish and was competing in the first German-hosted Olympics post-Hitler. The same country that tried to eliminate Jewish people, because they were thought of as inferior, was force to play host to the most incredible athletic feat in history.

I'm not trying to dismiss what Phelps is doing, but what Spitz did was far more impressive in my opinion.