Mark Spitz races the clock in quest for more gold Mark Spitz is eager to swim at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics-but not that eager.

Winner of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics and now on the comeback trail, Spitz, 41, says he recently received a letter from the Israeli Olympic Committee. "I don't want to get into the actual wording," says Spitz in his Los Angeles home, "but it alluded to the fact that if I made aliyah, I could assure myself a spot on the Israeli team." Spitz, who won five gold medals at each of the 1965 and 1969 MaccabiahGames and was the only non-Israeli ever to run the torch for the Maccabiah Games (in 1985), declined the offer. "I was born in the U.S.A. and love livinghere," he says. The Israel Olympic Committee office in Tel Aviv denies that an offer was made to Spitz. Nevertheless, given the results of his recent comeback attempts, taking advantage of the Law of Return might have proved Spitz's most realistic strategy for making it to Barcelona.

Now shorn of his trademark mustache and just four pounds (1.8 kg.) heavier than he was two decades ago, Spitz has been beaten badly in exhibition 50-meter butterfly races twice in the past month first by 26-year old Tom Jager, the world record holder in the 50-meter freestyle, and then by Matt Biondi, 25, silver-medal winner at the 88 Olympics.

Why is Spitz, who studied dentistry, and now makes his living by selling his name for use on sportswear, even bothering with a long-shot comeback? "I don't know," he answers evasively. "It presents interesting possibilities." One of those "possibilities" may be a desire for gold other than in the form of an Olympic medal. It has been suggested that Spitz's comeback was simply a publicity stunt engineered by the Clairol company, which put up a $ 30,000 purse for the first exhibition race and $ 50,000 for the second. Spitz, as the loser, took home $ 10,000 and $ 15,000. And the attendant publicity won't do his sportswear licensing any harm.

Those loser's prizes were generous, given the quality of Spitz'sperformances; in the first race, he finished 1.78 seconds (a body length-and-a-half) behind Jager; in the second, a full two seconds behind Bondi. To get an idea of how glacial Spitz's pace was, the difference between the first- and eighth-place times in the U.S. National Championships in the 50 meter free-style held in April was just 1.06 seconds.

Spitz plays down the defeats. Discussing the loss to Jager, he says, "I got off the blocks a little on the slow side, and I lost the race right there. As far as my swimming was concerned, though, I was just as fast as Tom was. I just can't get into the water and start swimming as fast as he did."

He notes that swimmers today get into the water more quickly than a generation ago. "A lot of it has to do with the spring. They kind of go up a little higher and out a little further, obviously from doing weight training with their legs."

Spitz, too, has been doing weight training, as well as swimming twice a day for two hours and once on Saturday. That may keep him in shape, but it's unlikely that any amount of training will be enough for him to fulfill his dream of one more Olympic gold.