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Mark Spitz puts Michael Phelps’ career in perspective

Mark Spitz, who set a standard for Olympic excellence by winning all of his seven events in world-record fashion at the Munich 1972 Games, attended neither the Beijing 2008 Olympics nor the London 2012 Olympics.

And he’s not certain he will be at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

“I hope to go to Rio,” Spitz said, adding he’s received inquiries from people or organizations about possibly appearing at the first Olympics in South America next summer.

The last we heard of Spitz at the Olympics was Athens 2004, when a 19-year-old named Michael Phelps came close to emulating Spitz’s feat from 1972.