Tag: Jason Lezak

NBC’s Rowdy Gaines on the ‘Greatest Race’ doc and why this 2008 Olympic swimming relay was an all-time great comeback

For The Win spoke with NBC Sports’ Rowdy Gaines about Olympic swimming, from 2008 to this summer’s Tokyo Games.

It’s one of the best Olympics moments ever, the most incredible Olympic swimming relay leg in history and, according to NBC Sports swimming broadcaster Rowdy Gaines, the top Olympic race of all time.

It was the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — an event still regularly referenced in swimming circles and by fans at large, partly because it helped Michael Phelps make history with an unprecedented eight gold medals in a single Games.

Team USA wasn’t favored to win — France was — and wasn’t even close to the lead with just 50 meters left in the final relay leg. After Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones swam, the challenge of mounting what seemed like an impossible comeback fell to anchor Jason Lezak.

But in a truly astonishing moment, the then-32-year-old veteran dove in and swam the fastest relay split ever at 46.06, handing Team USA gold over France by .08 seconds. It was a thrilling and literally unbelievable moment during the Beijing Games (and For The Win has written extensively about it).

“If he went 46.10, they lost,” Gaines said. “And so [he] had to go 46-flat, and that’s what I can’t describe. I can’t describe 46-flat to you because I just don’t know how that’s possible.”

Thirteen years later, Gaines said he gets asked about the relay and his broadcast of it all the time, including for Peacock’s new documentary, The Greatest Race, which premiered Thursday.

For The Win spoke with Gaines — a U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member and three-time Olympic gold medalist — about the documentary, what made that relay so special and his prediction for Team USA’s breakout swimming star in the Tokyo Games.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfdT1iQeuoE

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

We talk about this race as the greatest relay leg or maybe the greatest swimming relay overall. How do you think it compares with other major sports comebacks, especially in the finals on such a big stage?

I look at look at it through rose colored glasses a little bit. But that’s why the documentary is so important because it literally goes behind the scenes and tells you why it was so fascinating. [Lezak] was this journeymen sprinter, who had failed a couple times before, on the last last leg of his career, basically, [and] doing something that no human being was ever even close to doing.

And then the stories of how Cullen Jones made [the finals relay team] by .01 of a second — it delves into the details of why this was, in my opinion, one of the great comeback stories in all of sports. Certainly, it’s the greatest race in Olympic history, in my opinion. And I’ve seen a lot. That’s how beloved this race is — at least in the United States. Not so much in France, but here in the United States, it’s a fascinating tale.

I definitely think the relay is on par with other types of sports comebacks — like the New England Patriots coming back from a 28-3 deficit in the Super Bowl and the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series after being down 3-1 — that are the unlikeliest of unlikely.

Absolutely. Especially if you know the dynamics of the relay. The first five or six relays all were under the world record. It’s a world record that still stands 13 years later. [Lezak] still has the fastest split in history 13 years later. It’s just like, you can’t make this up.

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On the on the broadcast during Lezak’s first 50, you said you didn’t think there was any way that he could come back against France’s Alain Bernard, which at that time, seemed like a certainty. Do you regret saying that, or do you think it’s kind of funny now?

Jason Lezak in second trails France’s Alain Bernard by almost a full body length going into the final 50 meters. (NBC Sports)

I don’t regret it at all. I have rarely regret things I say about predictions because I feel like my track records are pretty good on predictions. But this one, I almost enjoy getting wrong because I was like everybody else watching this race. There wasn’t one person in that building that thought the U.S. is going to win. At the 350-meter mark? No way. If they if they do tell you that they’re lying.

I was like everybody else. “I just don’t think they’re gonna do it.” I think it’s kind of funny now. The guys definitely give me grief. I was just talking to Michael [Phelps] a couple days ago, and I brought up the documentary, and he still gives me grief about it. And they all do. Every day, every time I see them, that’s it. “I just don’t think they can do it.”

And the problem is not only did I say it once, but I said it twice! That’s what they really dig in their heels with me: “Oh, my gosh, you fool! You not only said it once, you said it twice.”

We’ve seen trash-talking in Olympic swimming with the French team saying they were going to “smash” the Americans and in the 2016 Rio Games with Lilly King and Yulia Efimova. Is trash-talking a rarity at this level or common and we just don’t see it?

I think it’s definitely more common than then we see. I hear about it a lot, but a lot of times, they like to keep it on the down low and not have that get out publicly. But yeah, there there are certain certain rivalries and certain certain smack talk. That definitely happens in swimming. A lot of personalities that clash, just like any sport.

Looking ahead to the Tokyo Olympics this summer, if you had to pick a breakout star who’s not currently a household name but will be come August, who would you pick?

Claire Curzon, trust me. Nobody’s heard of her. She’s gonna be really, really good, and it’d be a great story because a year ago, she wouldn’t have made the Olympic team.

The pandemic has been tragic for everybody, and, I’m sure, including her. But she’s going to come out and it’s going to be better for her. To have that extra year, it’s going to help her. And she could be a huge breakout star. She could be sort of a Missy Franklin or a Katie Ledecky of 2012.

Speaking of, Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel have a chance to win possibly five gold medals each, which would be a record for U.S. woman at a single Olympics. Do you think one or both of them could do that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvIctUc7b3A

Definitely. First of all, Katie Ledecky is Katie Ledecky. She’s the greatest female swimmer in history, so there’s no doubt in my mind that she could do this.

And Simone Manuel — all three times at the Olympics in 2016, at the world championships 2017 and in the world championships in 2019, she went in, and nobody predicted her to win. And each time she won the gold medal. Those are the three biggest meets over the last five years, so if you plan to bet against Simone, do it at your own peril because I am not going to bet against her. Never ever again.

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Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and the greatest swimming relay leg of all time 12 years later

Team USA pulled off what seemed like an impossible victory in the men’s 4×100-meter relay 12 years ago.

It was, undeniably, the greatest swimming relay leg of all time and surely one of the best in-race comebacks the sport has ever seen.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Team USA’s men’s 4×100-meter relay squad downed their trash-talking French rivals to deliver what seemed like an impossible victory late in the race and helped Michael Phelps claim one of his eight gold medals that summer. It wasn’t the only race that summer Phelps almost lost in his quest to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in a single Games, but because it was a relay, the finish was entirely out of his control.

On August 11, 2008 at China’s famous Water Cube, Jason Lezak had the most incredible swim of his career, and it’s one the swimming world will never forget.

“That one race made my career and kept me swimming for another four years, and I’m still able to do swimming things because of that,” Lezak told For The Win in 2019.

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So without the 2020 Olympics happening in Tokyo this summer — the closing ceremony would have been Sunday — we’re looking back at this inconceivable moment in swimming history.

Then 32 years old, Lezak was the oldest swimmer on the U.S. men’s team, of which he was also the captain, and was anchoring the sprint relay. That meant he’d be going against France’s Alain Bernard for the final 100 meters — the same Alain Bernard who said:

“The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for.”

Phelps led off the relay, did his job and gave Team USA a .40-second lead over the French while breaking the 100-meter freestyle American record at 47.51 seconds.

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Then Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones dove in for the next two legs. But by the time Jones hit the wall for his exchange with Lezak, the French had a solid lead that everyone expected Bernard would increase. And he did.

Going into that moment, Lezak was just worried about leaving the block a tad early and getting disqualified. Via NBC Sports’ 2018 piece celebrating the anniversary of the relay:

“Emotions going all over the place,” Lezak said. “I was so anxious to try to catch [Bernard] I actually thought in my head that I left [the starting block] early and I would get DQed. I believe my reaction time was .03, which was really close. I’m sure all the coaches were freaking out.”

It was actually .04, second-best reaction of the 24 relay exchanges among the eight nations. Lezak avoided disqualification by eight hundredths of a second.

“Swimming down the first length [of the pool], trying to get all my thoughts out of my head,” Lezak continued. “As I did that, Bernard was on my left, and I breathed to my right. Never once did I look over to see where he was. I got to the 50, flipped and pushed off, and had another thought. Oh no, this guy increased his lead on me.”

By the time they turned at the 50-meter mark, Bernard’s lead over Lezak was almost a full body length. It was remarkably unlikely that a 32-year-old veteran swimmer would be able to make up so much ground in one length, and against the former 100-meter world holder no less.

Even with 25 meters to go, although Lezak was catching up, he was still down about half a body length. There was absolutely no way he was going to pass Bernard for the win, right?

Well, Lezak out-touched Bernard by .08 seconds for the world record and made history in more ways than one.

And no matter how many times we watch it, fully aware of the result, there will always be chills.

Here’s the full race video:

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