Mark Spitz--The Ego Speaks

Mark Spitz and I are of the same generation.

When Mark Spitz became a legendary sports figure, winning seven gold medals in the in the 1972 Olympics, I was a young mother of one, expecting #2.

Looking at Mark Spitz today is rather depressing,


... especially considering the image which remains in our minds.

Actually, he sounds pretty disappointed and bitter.

He claims that he's not upset that his medal-winning record will probably be broken by Michael Phelps. It's just that he had expected to be invited to the Olympics:

..."Unless I get that invite, I'll be watching on TV," Spitz, 58, said in a recent interview with Reuters. "I don't think it's going to happen. It'd be nice if it did. It would seem like the right thing to do."

...Spitz, who will be in Hong Kong on business when the Olympics start on August 8, said he had no "hard feelings" about not being invited to Beijing.

...Spitz said Olympics organizers had little sense of history, unlike say Major League Baseball in the United States. He recalled that when Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' 37-year-old record for home runs in a single season in 1998, officials ensured members of Maris' family were part of the festivities. (complete article)

Mark, go fly a kite!

Jewish?

It has become very faddy for celebrities and politicians to announce some Jewish family connection, even if it's not genetic. Over half a millennium after the Inquisition, that's pretty good news.

Two of the latest are from different eras and totally different lives.

Students of the American Revolution and the early days of the United States all agree that one of the most brilliant thinkers and politicians was Thomas Jefferson. Yes, you guessed it! Geneticists say there are Jewish markers on his "Y chromosome."

University of Arizona geneticist Michael Hammer found that the Jefferson Y chromosome was a perfect match to a Moroccan Jew and closely matched another Moroccan Jew, a Kurdish Jew and an Egyptian.

And from today's celebrities...
Do you remember the athletic, graceful and precocious ice skater, Oksana Baiul, who stunned the world when she won the Olympic Gold at the age of 16? Yes, she, too, has Jewish roots.

hat tip The Gantseh Megillah