Mark Spitz has rounded on Olympics chiefs for failing to invite him to Beijing for swimmer Michael Phelps' quest to break his record gold medal haul in the pool.

The American expects his 36-year-old record of seven gold medals from a single Olympics will be broken by compatriot Phelps, and would like to witness the historic moment.

But Spitz is not holding his breath for an invitation from Olympics organisers.

"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."

Phelps is in the hunt for eight gold medals in Beijing - adding to the six he won at the Athens Games in 2004.

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

"But I think that passing the baton... would have been a phenomenal idea," he said.

A spokesman for the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne said Spitz had not been formally invited, but "I suspect he will be there as he usually is".

Spitz said Olympics organisers 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.