Some Olympic Inspiration

"The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came for."

These words were uttered by French swimmer Alain Bernard a few days before his team would compete in the Men's 4X100 meter relay at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Bernard had reason to talk. He was the world record holder in the 100 meter freestyle, and by all accounts, the world's fastest freestyle swimmer for that distance.

So when Bernard dove into the pool at the Water Cube as the French team's anchor leg with more than a half-second lead over the Americans, it was pretty clear that his prediction had been correct. It would be devastating for the U.S. team to lose this race, largely because of the hype surrounding American swimmer Michael Phelps' quest for 8 gold medals at a single games -- a feat that would eclipse Mark Spitz's long-time record of 7 golds. But the loss would be even more bitter because of Bernard's arrogant trash-talking. No one likes a loud-mouthed bully. Especially when he's on the other team and he's about to win.

Unfortunately for Bernard, the anchorman for the U.S. team was 32-year old veteran Jason Lezak.

Lezak was swimming in his third Olympic games, and had been part of the only U.S. teams in history not to win gold in this event in 2004 and 2000. He apparently didn't like those losses.

When the swimmers flip-turned at the halfway point of their legs, Lezak was still a good half-body length behind Bernard. To overcome such a deficit would be like going into a football game halfway through the fourth quarter losing by 35 against Tom Brady's team. It just isn't going to happen for you. Nice try, but better luck next time.

But Lezak kept fighting. Inch by inch he gained on Bernard, and when he finally had no more room in the pool to gain on Bernard, he touched the wall eight one hundredths of a second ahead of the arrogant Frenchman.

The win kept Phelps' hope for 8 golds alive. Lezak's leg had been the fastest ever swum. It was about as close as we can get to describing something as superhuman.

With the London olympics kicking off in a few days, this story has been on my mind a lot lately. It's the most vivid and exciting olympic memory I have. I still literally tear up when I read accounts of it or watch the video of it. So I thought I'd give you the chance to re-live it as well.

HERE's an ESPN story about the race from four years ago.
Here's the youtube video of the full race. The quality isn't great, but you can see enough to know that Lezak had no shot (until he did).