By a Fingertip: U.S. men win Gold in 4×100 Freestyle Relay
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.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.
Posted in: General Sports, Swimming, The Olympics
Tags: Alain Bernard, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps
That was an amazing race. Lezak was incredible, and Bernard will relive this in his head for the rest of his life.
What an amazing finish. If you weren’t able to catch it live, track it down. Record SportsCenter, whatever. That has to be the best American moment from the games thus far.
Watching this moment live will always be remembered as one of my favorite moments in sports. “Live” from the west coast, I was with one of my buddies. I’ve been watching about five hours a day, and have been entertained and more than satisfied with the touching opening ceremonies, Phelps’ first gold medal in the medley, the USA soccer games, the women’s gymnastics and beach volleyball. Really, these Games have been great. But then, watching the relay last night, with that quote coming on screen from that French dude, something just sparked inside of me…a genuine love of these Games fueled by the drama and intensity. When Lezak pulled it off at the end, we went nuts. I’m not kidding when I say this, two cops came over because people had complained about a domestic disturbance. Awesome.
That was one of those rare “Go! Go! Go!” moments where the guy trying to come back actually does come back. Amazing.