A reporter asked French swimmer Alain Bernard about the American’s chances against them in the Olympic 4×100 freestyle relay. Bernard responded by saying, “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for.” Not being a fan of cocky proclamations, Bernard’s pre-race comments had me up late last night to see if the Americans would make him eat his words.
Only moments before the race started, the NBC analyst said, “How many times have I broken this race down over the past two weeks? Every time I do it, it comes out France.” What happened next was one of the most exciting races I’ve ever seen.
The Australian’s Eamon Sullivan jumped out to an early lead with a world record split to open. By the end of the second leg, the United States was in the lead. Then, on the third, the French were in first by half a body length.
By the time Jason Lezak entered the pool .69 seconds behind the French, his chances of closing against Alain Bernard didn’t look good. However, Lezak swam a 46.06 second split to pass Bernard and out touch him by eight hundredths of a second at the finish.
Cue the primal screams by Garrett-Weber Gale, Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak, the 2008 4×100 Olympic champions and new world record holders. Their time of 3.08.24 shattered the world record of 3.12.23. Jones said, “We love listening to other people talk stuff about us cause it just fuels us to be ready, and we don’t say anything until it’s over.”
This was amazing. I was yelling in my living room. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a televised race that much!
@Claire – I agree. It was well worth losing a couple of hours of sleep.
Thanks for dropping by!