The Thrill Of Victory And The Agony Of Defeat......so France You Shut Your Mouth!!
 

For all that is wrong with sport this is probably the best reminder of what is right of the last decade. If you don't swell with pride for your country watching this 10 minutes of sports competition your probably not an american.
Everyone will remember Michael Phelps after these games like Spitz was, but the name of Jason Lezak will probably become an after thought when compared to Phelps. The courage that this kid showed in beating the French with his fastest 50 meters ever swam in a relay is one of the greatest individual accomplishments in the history of sports......that's right THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF SPORTS. He had failed the last 2 Olympiads but comes back to swim his fastest 50 meters ever to snatch the gold from the country that talked trash about "smashing the Americans" in the relay.

Watch and enjoy...

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/sha...D_SWB_HL_L0194

Jim McKay would be damn proud....

Man, thanks a whole bunch. I heard about it but did not see it. That's up there with the US hockey team victory...

Awesome!

Spyder USA

Hummm....and all this time I thought frogs were good swimmers

Doc, thanks for posting that. I am so sorry that I went to bed last night. It's so great that they were underdogs and ended up winning, but the fact it was the French and they were talking crap makes it 100x better!

If I heard correctly, the guy that Lezak overtook in the final leg was the worldrecord holder for the 100. so you wouldn't expect that starting off with about a half length or so deficit at the start of the final leg, that the kid would be able to run him down. but he did. watching it live was one of those moments when you get goosebumps because you know you just saw something legendary.

since they broke the world record by like 4 seconds, it would be something like a 130+ beyer performance in horse racing. of course there would be allegations that the track (pool) was souped up because I believe even the fourth place team broke or matched the old world record.

Jim there is something about the "drafting" thing like auto racing that apparently allowed him to conserve energy while riding the wave beside Lezak and then he just turned it on the last 25 meters and luckily his head bob out of the pool at the touch didn't cost him.

It was just enough to make a grown man tear up with pride for the kid!!!

that and I think just the will to win, to not take silver again, to beat the chumps who said they would smash you. all of those motivations seemed to just propel him along to an other-worldly performance.

He was the former world record holder. Eamon Sullivan went 47.24 in the opening leg of the relay..which counts because it's a dead start.

Phelps went 47.51 and broke the American record.

Chinese did something to that water to get all these records broken. I would love to know the physics behind it.

for sure, the records are falling in every event.
there actually are ways to speed up the pool.

It's a combination of things.

The Speedo LZR Racer suit.
Weight training.
Vegetarian diets...quite a few are on one.
Altitude tent/room for sleeping.
revolutionary changes in stroke technique...example: Phelps butterfly, breathes every stroke. This used to be a cardinal sin.

They probably built the poor a couple inches too short!

USA crushes the Frenchies. That swim by Lezak in the last leg was outstanding. I believe he went 46 flat in his split which is insane. As a former collegiate swimmer I can't imagine anyone going that fast. It was an outstanding race and I am glad I stayed up to watch it.

diets and stroke techniques might account for marginal improvements. the reason records are getting smashed is the suit streamlines the swimmers body.

that's the physics, scuds.

I could never give up steak.. even for an Olympic gold. There, I said it.

Now you're just being ridiculous on purpose. Stop it.

I just talked to a friend of mine who was a collegiate all-american and competed in multiple international events what he thought about said comments. Results in red.

The suit is nice and all but getting way too much credit by sports writers who have absolutely no clue about swimming.

I dont know enough about swimming but what I do know is my wife, daughter and I were all screaming at the TV pointing at that guy, you ah da man. He won the damn thing and everyone knows.

You watch that... I just cant believe he caught the Frenchman... still.
Said he was tired of losing. Well I guess so cause he looked like a missle almost draggin himself out of the water the last 10 meters.

Phelps goes again in just a few minutes for Gold again...:tro:

Can you explain the 15% being contributed to vegetarians? What is the reasoning behind this creating faster swimmers? Wouldn't a well balanced diet create just as good, if not better, results? Do the non-vegetarians swimmers agree with that 15%?