It was the obvious cover shot. Whenever Sports Illustrated group editor Terry McDonell talked about Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals, he was asked if the mag would do “the picture.” “They always said, ‘You know, the one like Mark Spitz with all the medals,’” McDonell laughed. “It was certainly an idea that occurred to us.” On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated will unveil its exclusive photo on newsstands across the country. On the cover, a grinning and bare-chested Phelps, 23, displays eight medals splayed across his chest in a nod to the man whose record he broke. “It is not lost on me that [the Spitz picture] is one of the most popular and iconic photos in all of sports,” McDonell said. McDonell said the cover was a way to visually and instantly portray the “dominant” story of the week. “This is about Michael going forward,” McDonell said. “This is an image that our readers and others will remember.”

And, in case you’re not familiar with Spitz’s iconic image, here it is for comparison:

To be totally honest, I think I have to give the hawtness edge to Mark Spitz … the sexy porn ’stache (which was so in vogue in the early 70’s) really works for him … but at least Phelpsie can content himself with having won more Gold Medals ;) After the jump, check out all of the Sports Illustrated magazine covers that Michael Phelps has appeared on (there are 6 total) …

Phelps makes a pretty good coverboy, no? I suspect we may be seeing him on quite a few more magazine covers … and, most likely, a Wheaties box, too. I totally love that the University of Michigan (where Phelps trained for the Beijing Olympic Games) got props on the College Issue cover cuz, you know, U of M rocks!

[Source, Source]