It was a case of "open mouth, insert foot." The swimming competition in Beijing is well underway, and Michael Phelps had already won one of the eight events he will enter. This race, the 4 x 100 Freestyle relay would be his most difficult event. The French team was favored to win gold.
The Olympic Aquatic Center, or "Water Cube" as it is popularly known, is as beautiful in design as it is in function. It is basically the Coors Field of swimming pools. The Water Cube is where world records go to die. Already in the competition, we have seen records broken by 2-3 seconds. But things were about to go to an entirely new level.
Phelps swam the opening leg for Team USA, and with 300 meters completed, the French had almost a full body-length lead on the Americans. And their champion, the world record holder Alain Bernard, was going to swim the anchor leg.
Prior to the race, Bernard had said "we are going to smash the Americans. That's why we're here." Au contraire! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Jason Lezak was swimming the anchor leg for Team USA, and...Mon Dieu! The American was gaining on the great Bernard.
Lezak went on to swim the fastest 100 ever. BTW, it won't count as a world record since only the first leg of a relay race can qualify for some arcane reason. Maybe there is some time dilation effect, and the time clocks don't work right once the race has started.
With his final strokes, Lezak caught Bernard, who in the fine tradition of Jean Van de Velde (now there's a name you haven't heard for a while) was out-touched at the wall. Americans gold, French silver, by less than a tenth of a second. Many years ago I tried to explain (over and over) to a co-worker that live sporting events were the best drama on television, but his head was made out of lead, so he never understood. I hope he was watching.
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