BEIJING — With 50 meters left this morning, Michael Phelps’ record chase was about to turn into a shattered dream. His United States’ 400-meter freestyle relay team had coughed up its lead in the third leg and trailed France by .32 seconds heading into the final turn.
And it wasn’t Phelps playing catch-up. It was Jason Lezak, who swam on the relay in Athens four years ago that sent the U.S. to bronze in this same event. The man he had to chase down was merely Alain Bernard, France’s world record-holder.
With America’s 400 medley relay team suddenly in jeopardy with breaststroke specialist Brendan Hansen not medaling this morning in the 100, Phelps could win all five of his individual events and still fall short of Mark Spitz’s mark of seven gold medals in a single Olympics.
But in what some observers called the greatest relay race in American swimming history, Lezak came from behind to swim the fastest relay leg in history to outtouch Bernard and give the U.S. the gold and Phelps his second.
“I knew I had to swim out of my mind,” Lezak said. “I also had more adrenaline going than I ever have in my life.”
For a little added bonus, their time of 3:08.24 shattered the world record they broke Sunday night of 3:12.23. Cullen Jones, who swam the third leg, celebrated so wildly he nearly fell in the pool, and Phelps let out a primal scream that could be heard all over America.
“Words can’t come together right now,” said Jones, who swam the third leg. “I’m so happy for (Lezak). He’s 32 and he’s thinking about retiring, and I don’t think he should. He’s at the top of his game.”
How fast, how desperate was Lezak’s final leg? His 46.06 was nearly 1 1/2 seconds faster than Bernard’s world mark of 47.50. Because it’s a relay, it won’t count, but Lezak won’t care. He’ll settle for going down as the man with the epoch relay kick and who saved Phelps in his near record- setting coronation.
The U.S. didn’t lead after two of the legs, and one of them was Phelps’. Racing just 91 minutes after his 200 freestyle semifinal, Phelps opened the relay with a 47.51, just behind the 47.24 of Australia’s Eamon Sullivan.
Garrett Weber-Gale, the American champion in the 100 and 50 freestyle, retook the lead with a 47.02, as France took second. However, Cullen Jones had a bad leg. His 47.65 left him far in the wake of France’s Frederick Bousquet’s 46.63, and the U.S. trailed by .19 going into the final 100.
That’s when Lezak took over. At 32, this is his third Olympics and he’s had success besides the failures. He won gold in the 400 medley relay in Athens and Sydney in 2000, but losing the 400 freestyle in Athens forced Phelps to postpone his quest to break Spitz’s mark to this year.
“This one race he’ll never forget the rest of his life,” said Jones. “2000 and 2004 he wanted to completely dominate everyone else and it didn’t happen. So I’m more excited about this for him than me.
“For him to swim the fastest split ever, that’s got to excite him. And then to catch the world record holder.”
Now Phelps stays on pace. Next up is Tuesday’s 200 freestyle final in which he’s the world record-holder.
“Michael’s quest is completely in the hands of Michael at this point,” Jones said. “He knows when to back off in races, but he gave it all he could in that 100 free.”
Asked if Phelps was going to share his $1 million bonus from Nike if he matches Spitz’s mark, Lezak said, “We already talked about that.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denvepost.com
