Relayed gratification
Win by US men keeps Phelps's gold quest alive
BEIJING - Now, he's off to the races - six more of them. Thanks to an astounding victory in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay today, capped by a fantastic anchor leg from Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps's quest for a record eight Olympic gold medals has shifted into high gear.
"It was unbelievable," exulted Phelps, after the Americans had come from behind to beat the favored French by .08 seconds in the closest finish in the event in Olympic history and set a jaw-dropping world record (3:08.24) that chopped 3.99 seconds off the mark that the US had set in yesterday's prelims. "Jason finished the race better than we could have asked for."
Given the stakes, it was the greatest Olympic relay victory ever for the Americans, who hadn't won the event since 1996 and had to go down to the final stroke to pull it off.
"I can't even explain it," said Lezak. "It was unreal. I've been a part of the teams at the last two Olympics that came out behind and I think I wanted it more than anybody. Not just for myself, but to show that we are the nation to beat in that relay."
This was the race that had ended Phelps's bid four years ago in Athens, when the Yanks finished third behind South Africa and the Netherlands. This was the least certain of his eight events, since the French were coming in favored and had world record-holder Alain Bernard swimming anchor, and the Americans were behind for most of it.
"When you put the world record-holder in at the end of the relay and go in behind them, the chance of you taking them are slim to none," observed US men's coach Eddie Reese.
With Phelps swimming leadoff, they were down by .27 seconds after the first 100, when Australia's Eamon Sullivan (47.24) broke Bernard's mark. And after Garrett Weber-Gale had put his mates back in the lead midway through, the US team trailed by nearly .6 seconds after the third leg when Cullen Jones, a 50-meter specialist, tired coming home.
So it came down to the 32-year-old Lezak, who's competing in his third Games, and with the final swing of his arm he grabbed the gold medal, which had Phelps roaring in triumph on the deck.
"You could see I was pretty excited," said Phelps, who'd never been nearly as exuberant after any of his previous seven gold medals. "I was very emotional."
The relay victory was the only one of the night for the Americans, who got silver medals from Katie Hoff in the women's 400 freestyle and Christine Magnuson in the 100 butterfly, but who'd been hoping for more.
Hoff, who seemed sure to win with 5 meters to go, was touched out by Britain's Rebecca Adlington by .07 seconds in the closest finish in the event in Olympic history.
"I feel like I should have got my hand on the wall first," said Hoff, who closed her eyes and turned her head away after glimpsing the 2 next to her name on the scoreboard.
"I gave it everything I possibly had, but they got me on the end. I would have loved to have touched first, but there was nothing much more I could do."
Earlier, Brendan Hansen, who came in as the world champion and global record-holder in the 100 breaststroke, lost both the race and the record to Japanese archrival Kosuke Kitajima (58.91) and missed the medal podium after winning silver in Athens.
"Obviously, everybody brought their 'A' game," said Hansen, after the United States had been shut out of the medals in the event for the first time in 20 years. "I just said congratulations, man [to Kitajima]. That's an awesome swim."
Until the men's relay, only Phelps, who'd destroyed the field with his world-record victory in the 400 individual medley, had had an awesome swim. And though he's favored to win his remaining four individual events, starting with the 200 freestyle, he needs a little - or a lot - of help from his friends in the three relays.
The others shouldn't be anywhere near as challenging. The Americans are a mile ahead of the rest of the world in the 800 free relay (where North Easton's Erik Vendt will swim in the prelims) and they've never lost the medley relay at the Games.
This one was the one Phelps had to have, and he may be sending Lezak a case of champagne every Aug. 11 for the rest of his days. 