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Lezak had a fantastic and stunning finish.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!

Loved Phelps' victory scream at the end.

Lezak swam a 46.0 anchor, the fastest in history. The team time of 3:08.24 shattered the world record set by the U.S. team Sunday night in the prelims, set without Phelps. France finished at 3:08.32.

The commentators said Lezak is self-coached. That is astounding!

(phelps victory scream.jpg)

Yeah, I recently found out you could actually do that.  In the replays I noticed the French guy was hugging the lane rope and Lezak was as well.  Smart move by Jason, lack of concentration from the French.  I'm guessing he probably didn't think anybody had a chance of catching him.  And he definitely took a glance to his left and saw Lezak.  I can't imagine that moment of "oh s***!"  Oh and I'm sure Lezak remembered this:

"The Americans?" Bernard recently told the sports newspaper L'Equipe, "We're going to smash them. That's what we came for."

I love an emotional victory:

I've watched Olympic swimming religiously since 1984 and I've never seen anything like Lezak's anchor leg. Truly the stuff of dreams, that twilight of impossible that you can almost touch--and he did touch it, .08s worth.

And ... smack talk doesn't pay ... seems the word "smash" has come to mean "we'll take 2nd place, thank you"

(Gary Hall of the U.S. said they would "smash the Aussies like guitars" in Sydney 2000, and Alain Bernard of France said ... well, we all know what he said, and how it turned out).

It was a pretty amazing race to watch.  Definitely worth staying up for last night.  As far as the smack talk, it never seems to go well for the people who are sure they are going to win.  I think the US team learned that and has been a lot better about it this year.

Dangit, I knew I should have stayed up to watch but I was fading fast by 11pm, when the ticker said "Michael Phelps in 27 minutes" - ugh. But I also knew it'd be splashed all over the place and there was no way I could avoid hearing about it. So I'll just watch it later on DVR and pretend to be surprised

I didn't watch it last night but checked it out after seeing all the threads.  Even though I knew the outcome, I was STILL getting goosebumps watching the anchor leg.

How would you like to Bedard?  His first Olympics and gets put in with that crew.

And, btw, 46.0?!  That's just SICK!  Someone check him for webbed hands and feet.

Sooooo worth staying up for!!!

When we were watching it, I commented to my hubby that I thought we were drafting on the final leg. I call that smart swimming!!! When he poured it on and started catching up with the French we were both screaming at the tv and I was jumping up and down. Very inspirational and very exciting.

Love the pic of Phelps. I was wondering if his speed suit was gonna slip down any further. I kept telling the camera man to pan down pan down. But evidently the camera man wasn't listening...

Boo - it won't work for me. That's okay, I am going home for lunch and can watch it then On TV, with sound.

Amazing.  Truly amazing.

They were saying that Bernard tightened up. I wasn't sure what they were seeing when they said this last night. This morning they explained that Bernard took 17 strokes to Lezak's 14 strokes in the last 20 (25?) meters or so. Also, Bernard breathed in the last 5 strokes and he stole a look at Lezak at the finish (dumb!).

Very exciting race. I was screaming at the TV last night.

Oh, and I read this and found it funny:

Garrett Weber-Gale, who'd inherited second place from Phelps and handed first over to Jones, who'd kept the Americans in a race they had no business being in, was pounding the blocks, over and over, and there was little sophistication to what he was saying, just raw emotion.

"I said the 'F' word over and over and over," he admitted, with a laugh.

WITH OUT A DOUBT THE BEST RACE I'VE EVER SEEN!

Have been watching swimming since '85 and this is without a doubt the best race and finish ever!  It goes to show you that you should never give up!  Even with "drafting" in swimming, when they are moving that fast and kicking that hard, its very difficult (almost impossible) to make up the hip to shoulder distance.  Congrats to all of them for giving it their all and a little more!!