Men's 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay

All I can say is: O.....M.....G!!!!!! This relay race was freaking insane! There's no other way to describe it. I was actually standing up in front of the TV, cheering the guys on. The USA men won this race by a hair, crushing the previous world record (3:08.24) they set earlier that night (3:12.23) by 4 seconds! The four man team was led off by Michael Phelps, followed by Garrett Weber-Gale, then Cullen Jones, and anchored by Jason Lezak. The race started off with Australia in the lead, then the US and France catching up and passing them in the middle. Going into the anchor leg of the race, France had a 0.59 second lead over the US (about 1 body length), and it looked like the US was going to have to settle for silver considering France's anchor was the former 100m freestyle WR holder (The lead-off Aussie, Eamon Sullivan, broke the record for the 100m freestyle in this same race with a time of 47.24 seconds). But Jason Lezak had something different on his mind. He went from a body length behind to out-touching Alain Bernard by 0.08 seconds and did so with a 46.06 second split, the fastest time in history!  Phelp's quest for 8 gold medals in one Olympic games is still a go.  Hope he can do it!

Here's a link to a video of the race I found on Youtube. It's a video of the TV set but it's clear enough to watch.

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay 2008 Olympics

Hell, it's kind of hard to follow what I wrote above so here's an easier to read and more detailed version from the NBCOlympics website:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=188791.html#lezaks+comeback+delivers+relay+gold

BEIJING -- Michael Phelps' quest for Olympic history continued Monday morning -- but by the thinnest of margins.

Jason Lezak charged home in the anchor leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay to outtouch 100m world-record holder Alain Bernard of France.

Lezak swam a 46.06 anchor, the fastest in history. Not bad for the oldest swimmer on the U.S. men's team, at age 32.

The team time of 3:08.24 shattered the world record set by the U.S. team Sunday night in the prelims at 3:12.23.

France finished second at 3:08.32 and Australia third at 3:09.91. The top five teams in the race swam under the previous world record.

"I've been on the last two relays, where we came up short, and to be honest with you, I was tired of losing," Lezak said of bronze and silver relay medals for the U.S. team in the past two Olympics.

The relay victory moves Phelps to within one gold medal of tying the all-time mark of 10. It also keeps alive his quest for eight golds at a single Olympics. He won the 400m IM in world-record time Sunday and swims his next indivudual final, the 200m free, on Tuesday.

"I was going nuts. As soon as he came off that last wall, I was going crazy," Phelps said.

The Americans said they were motivated by the French team's prediction of gold.

"We love listening to other people talk stuff about us, because it just fuels us," said Cullen Jones, who swam the third leg. Garrett Weber-Gale swam the second leg.

 

"They had talked a lot about it, and we would just rather do it in the pool," Lezak said. "I knew it was going to come down to the end, and I was hoping to be ahead, but I never lost hope. I don’t know how I was able to take it back that fast, because I’ve never been able to come anywhere near that for the last 50."

Weber-Gale and Jones did their parts on the middle legs of the relay, overcoming the enormous pressure of making sure they didn't mess up Phelps' attempt to take down the Holy Grail of Olympic records. Jones was the only holdover from the team that swam in the prelims.

Bernard was the world record holder in the 100, but he surrendered that mark as well. Australia's Eamon Sullivan broke the individual record by swimming the leadoff leg in 47.24 -- ahead of Bernard's mark of 47.50.

Oh, by the way, Phelps set an American record leading off, 47.51. But it was Lezak's anchor that everyone will remember. He got down and back in a staggering 46.06, the fastest relay leg in history though it doesn't count as an official record.

Lezak looked at the scoreboard, then leaped out of the water with an emphatic fist pump.

"I knew I was going to have to swim out of my mind," Lezak said. "Still right now, I'm in disbelief."

While the Americans whooped it up on deck, Bernard clung to the wall, his head down. The swimmer who had talked confidently of beating the Americans -- "smashing" them, some media reported -- was the last one to leave the pool.

"Alain is wounded. When you are the last swimmer in a relay and that you have the opportunity to bring a title of this importance to your country, you don't get out of this unhurt," said Claude Fauquet, France's team director. "But I don't think that Alain lost the race. It's Lezak who won it."

Though many countries save their best swimmers for the anchor leg, Phelps is more comfortable leading off -- especally swimming a distance that is not part of his individual schedule. Lezak is a sprint specialist, and it sure paid off having him in the last spot.