
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 13, 1991                   TAG: 9104130006
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MISSION VIEJO, CALIF.                                LENGTH: Medium

SPITZ ATTEMPTS TO MAKE WAVES IN COMEBACK

Mark Spitz will try to bridge swimming's generation gap today in his first competitive race since launching his comeback attempt more than a year ago.

In a made-for-television event, Spitz, 41, will race world freestyle champion Tom Jager in a 50-meter butterfly at the Mission Viejo International Sports Complex.

Fifteen years separate Spitz and Jager, who is the world champion and world record-holder in the 50-meter freestyle and thereby known as the fastest human in water.

What Spitz wants from the race is a time, preferably a good one, so the skeptics will start taking his comeback seriously.

"Hopefully, once and for all we'll be able to forget that I'm 41 and just look at times," he said.

But the age factor is hard to overlook, especially since the match race is sponsored by Clairol in promotion of a hair-coloring formula to cover gray hair.

And even Jager picked up on the generational theme at a news conference Thursday.

"I feel I'm here representing the athletes of my generation against the athletes of Mark's generation," he said.

Spitz, whose ultimate goal is making the 1992 U.S. Olympic team in the 100 butterfly, aims to swim the 50 in around 25.38 seconds, which was his 50-meter split when he won an Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly 18 1/2 years ago in Munich.

His coach, Ron Ballatore of UCLA, said he originally planned Spitz's first race for the summer but decided he needed a test sooner.

The race is worth $30,000, with the winner taking home $20,000.

Two weeks after meeting Jager, Spitz will face Matt Biondi, winner of five Olympic gold medals in 1988, in a 50-meter butterfly. The prize money in that race is $50,000, with $35,000 going to the winner.

"These guys are the best in the world, and I'm real proud and tickled that I get to see how I fare with them at this particular time in my training," Spitz said.

Working with Ballatore over the last year and a half, Spitz has put in about five workouts a week in which he swims two hours and lifts weights for 30 minutes.

by CNB