OMAHA, july 3: Michael Phelps has a big believer when it comes to his quest to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at the Olympics. Spitz himself.

The star of the 1972 Munich Games left little doubt that he expects his 36-year-old mark to be on the Olympic books for only another month or so. “What do I project for Michael Phelps in Beijing?” Spitz said. “A success story for all times sake.”

Phelps came up just short of Spitz’s iconic record four years ago, winning six gold medals in Athens but settling for bronze in his other two events.

Now 23 and coming off a historic seven-win performance at last year’s world championships, Phelps is expected to swim the same program in Beijing. Approaching the midway point of the Olympic trials in Omaha, he already had locked up spots in three events and was a heavy favourite in Wednesday evening’s final of the 200-metre butterfly.

“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” Spitz said in a telephone interview, two days before he was scheduled to arrive at the trials. “He could break his arm before Beijing, but as long as they have some duct tape, they can just tape him back up and he’ll swim — and win.”

Not that eight golds is a sure thing, of course.

Spitz pointed to the most likely stumbling blocks on Phelps’s expected program of five individual events and three relays. “He has two hurdles, or maybe three,” Spitz said. “He doesn’t really know what the relays are going to do. Someone could false start. No. 2, he’s got that first event to get through. He’s got a pretty good competitor in the 400” individual medley, referring to Ryan Lochte.

In Beijing, Phelps is expected to swim only one individual event in which he doesn’t hold the world record. Fellow American Ian Crocker has the best time ever in the 100 butterfly, but Phelps beat him in Athens and at last year’s worlds in Australia.

Job to do

“Michael will be real cordial to the press in Beijing for about a day,” Spitz said. “You’re not going to be able to get to him after that, because he’s got a job to do.”

Of course, everyone wants to know how Spitz feels about Phelps taking another shot at the record for the most gold medals in a single Olympics.

“It would be folly to say he’s not going to be able to do it. I would only be kidding myself,” Spitz said. “And frankly, how could this be bad? I obviously had to be the inspiration for it.”

And Spitz is ready to turn over the mantle as greatest Olympic swimmer to Phelps. “Let him have that monkey on his back for the next 25, 30, 35 years,” said Spitz, who watched Phelps in Athens but won’t be attending the Beijing Games. “It’s not an easy thing. It’s fun to answer to at first, but pretty soon that gets to be boring.”

Despite their obvious ties, Spitz has had little contact with Phelps over the years. An Olympic trials here. An awards show there. Posing for the occasional picture.

“Our interaction has been zilch, really,” Spitz said. “It’s kind of hard for me to project what’s going through his mind since I’ve not really had a chance to talk to him,” he added. “Frankly, he’s doing a good job of doing what’s he doing. Why clutter his mind with something Mark Spitz might say?”