Sunday, August 10, 2008

Phenomenal Olympic Swimming Relay!

Garrett Weber-Gale, left, and Michael Phelps screamed for joy after their teammate Jason Lezak out-touched Alain Bernard of France in the 4x100 freestyle final, helping the U.S. win the gold. Michael Phelps swam the first leg of the relay, and was amazing as usual.

But by the 4th and final leg - Lezak (the anchor), right, hit the water a half-second after Bernard, (of the French team) the world-record holder in the 100 freestyle.

The French team was so far out ahead that even the announcer was counting out the Americans - saying that the French were going to win the Gold. But then Lezak swam his heart out and started catching up to Bernard in the final moments. It was a nail biting finish- I was glued to the TV hoping for a miracle. And then it happened - Lezak closed the gap and touched the wall just 8 tenths of a second faster than Bernard.

Lezak's time of 46.06 seconds, was the fastest 100 split ever, 0.73 faster than the previous mark. At age 32, Lezak is the oldest member of the team (and now he's a hero of course!).From left, Lezak, Phelps, Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones.

The U.S. time of 3:08.24 shattered the world record by nearly 4 seconds, beating France by just 0.08 of a second.

It's being hailed as "the best relay race of all time".

This is the stuff the Olympics are made of!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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