That’s what it took.

Trailing French sprint star, Alain Bernard, going into the final turn, American Jason Lezak pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Olympic history to capture the gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle swimming relay race at Beijing.

This was the biggest obstacle in Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals in one Olympiad. He set the pace for his relay team, as they shattered the world record by a full four seconds with a time of 3:08.24. The victory was also bittersweet because Bernard had guaranteed his team would “smash” the U.S. squad in head-to–head competition. After the defeat, he left the pool in stunned silence.

Check out the video here.