Olympics: Spitz Hails Michael Phelps As Greatest Ever Olympian

Mark Spitz has hailed Michael Phelps as the greatest Olympian of all time after Phelps matched Spitz's record of winning seven gold medals at one Olympics. Spitz has held the unofficial title of 'greatest ever Olympian' since 1972, but with Phelps set to overtake his record if he wins gold in Sunday's 4x100m medley relay, the 58-year-old has revealed that he has no problems handing over his crown.

"I think that Michael can be called the best Olympian of all time, not because he has more gold medals than anybody but in the way he's handled himself and in the way he's actually won under a tremendous amount of pressure," Spitz said.

Phelps equaled Spitz's tally of seven gold medals when he won the men's 100m butterfly final by a fingertip from Serbia's Milorad Cavic on Saturday. Spitz revealed that he always knew someone would eventually match the benchmark he set in Munich in 1972. He described Phelps's performance as "epic" and said the Baltimore-born swimmer represents "an inspiration to youngsters around the world''.

The win brought Phelps's overall gold medal tally to 13, which tops the previous record of nine held jointly by Spitz, US sprinter Carl Lewis, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina.

Phelps's victory in the butterfly final - which earned him a $1million from Speedo for matching Spitz's record – was the closest he's come to defeat in these Games, and the 23-year-old revealed he thought he'd lost it. "As soon as I took the last half stroke, to be honest, I thought I had lost the race," he said. "And that was the difference, because if I would have glided then I would have come up short. I've been lucky enough over the last four years to have two pretty good finishes in Olympic finals. I guess I'm blessed."