Olympics - USA Smashes World Record in 4x100m Relay Final and Keep Michael Phelps' Golden Dream Aliv
The Beijing Olympics swimming competition has been scintillating. The 4x100m men's freestyle relay was always going to attract a great deal of attention because it is included in Michael Phelps quest for 8 gold Olympic gold medals in 8 days to break Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals in a single games (1972 Munich Olympics). In his individual events, Phelps just has himself to rely on. However, in the relays he has to rely on the performance of his team-mates as well - something that certainly multiplies the degree of difficulty by several factors. To give a measure of the quality of the teams competing in the final of the 4x100m relay, each of the teams achieved a National Record in their heats. France was hotly favoured to win. Phelps swam the first leg in a time of 47.51s and was second to the touch. He was beaten by the Australian Eamon Sullivan in a time of 47.24s - a new World Record. However, as predicted, halfway through the race France started to pull away. Frederick Bousquet started to open up a lead. What was incredible was that at this point half the field was still swimming at world record pace. By the last leg France had a lead of about 0.08s - it may not sound like much but it a lot to make up with just 50 metres to go. The USA were trailing in second place and it looked as if France would win. However, one man had different ideas. On the final leg Jason Lazak literally swam out of his skin. He pulled back the water with an incredible display of grit and determination. Jason reeled in the Frenchman, Alain Bernard. The Water Cube erupted. The USA won in a new World Record time of 3:08:24s smashing their 'old' record set in the heats by 3.99s and beating the French by 0.08s. Australia was third in a time of 3:09:91. And Jason's time on that last leg - 46.06s. The USA, France, Australia, Italy and Sweden all swam under the 'old' world record. The time set by France was a new European Record and that set by Australia a new Oceania record. Phelps' excitement was plain for all too see as he raised his arms and literally roared with delight. "It was unbelievable! Jason [Lezak] finished the race better than we could have asked for. In the last 50 [metres], I was like, this is going to be a really close race. At the end, as you could see I was pretty excited, I was very emotional." And with good reason this win meant that Phelps quest for 8 gold medals in 8 days remained intact. |
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