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No 2 for Phelps, but by a whisker

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-12 08:52

US swimmers (from left) Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps and Cullen Jones hug after winning the men's 4X100m freestyle relay swimming gold at the National Aquatics Center yesterday. AFP

Michael Phelps' dream of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics is alive. But just barely.

And the credit for it goes to teammate Jason Lezak in a 4x100m freestyle relay thriller yesterday.

USA won gold, pipping France. Australia was third. Five of the eight teams in the final beat the world record set by the Americans in the heats on Sunday night.

The team -- Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Lezak -- destroyed the world record by almost four seconds, clocking 3 min 08.24 sec.

The win gave Phelps two gold from two events and he owes anchor Lezak a huge debt.

At 32 the oldest man on the US men's team, Lezak churned out an incredible closing swim of 46.06 seconds to reel in French world 100m freestyle record-holder Alain Bernard and finger touch the Americans to victory.

Lezak dug out one of the greatest relay anchor legs in Olympic history as he dived into the water more than a body length behind Bernard but made up the deficit with his final strokes.

With 50m to go Lezak told himself there was "no way" he could catch Bernard and save Phelps' quest.

"Then I thought: 'That's ridiculous, this is an Olympic Games. You have to go for it'," he said.

The finish saw Phelps launch into a vein-popping primal scream.

"Unbelievable!" he said. "Jason finished that race way better than we could have even asked for.

"The last 10 to 15m were incredible. I lost my voice." Such was the pace of the race, Australia's Eamon Sullivan added to Bernard's heartache when he broke the Frenchman's 100m freestyle world record as he headed Phelps in the lead-off leg.

The win must be a huge boost to Phelps. It will go a long way in convincing that he is destined to get eight.

It's also a huge result for Lezak, who has won silver and bronze in the even in the last two Games.

"I've been a part of the two teams at the last two Olympics that came out behind. 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," said Lezak.

AFP

(China Daily 08/12/2008 page8)