Done it! Lezak delivers crucial victory for Phelps and Co.

  2008-08-11 15:45:18 GMT    2008-08-11 23:45:18 (Beijing Time)    Sina.com

  Golden oldie Jason Lezak dug out one of the greatest relay anchor legs in Olympic history Monday to keep alive Michael Phelps's quest for an historic eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

  Lezak, at 32 the oldest man on the US team's swimming roster, churned out an incredible closing swim of 46.06 seconds to reel in French world record-holder Alain Bernard and finger touch the Americans to a world-record victory in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay.

  The United States team of Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Lezak destroyed the world record by almost four seconds, winning gold in 3min 08.24.

  It was a never-say-die team performance that sent pulses racing inside the charged Water Cube and set off Phelps into a vein-popping primal scream as Lezak's name was flashed up as the winner of an unforgettable race.

  "A lot of the times in the last Olympics, it wasn't possible to pull back two seconds on the final length when the guy I was racing was so far ahead," Lezak said.

  "When I saw the last 50 metres and I saw he (Bernard) was far ahead, I thought: 'no way'.

  "Then I thought: 'That's ridiculous, this is an Olympic Games. You have to go for it.'

  "This was all in the space of five seconds - I went from 'can't do it' to 'can do it' to 'done it,'" Lezak said.

  Bernard and his French team had looked on course to end Phelps' gold medal odyssey right then and there, but somehow Olympic journeyman Lezak pulled out something extra.

  Not only could it prove the pivotal moment in Phelps's drive for Olympic immortality, it was a sweet taste of success for often denied Lezak.

  He had a bitter experience at the Athens Olympics, arriving as a 100m freestyle medal contender but failing to advance from the heats.

  He was on the US 4x100 free squad that settled for bronze in Greece, and he was part of the US 4x100m free team that ended up with silver in Sydney in 2000 - another memorable relay battle in which Aussie great Ian Thorpe surged past Gary Hall jnr on the final leg.

  "I've been a part of the two teams at the last two Olympics that came out behind. I think I wanted it more than anybody. Not just for myself but to show that we are the nation to beat in that relay," said Lezak.

  "I was pretty pleased there were no cameras on me when Jason touched the wall, because I jumped so high I almost fell in the pool," Jones said. "I couldn't contain myself, it was an amazing feeling."

  The French quartet of Amaury Leveaux, Fabien Gilot, Frederick Bousquet, and Bernard took silver in 3:08.32.

  "We believed in the gold medal until the end," Bousquet said. "We lost by a few hundredths of a second, but life doesn't stop there. That touch made the difference and experience overcame talent."

  To make things worse, Australian lead-off swimmer Eamon Sullivan broke Bernard's 100m free world record with a time of 47.24sec that put the Aussies on the road to bronze in 3:09.91.

  The top five teams were all under the world record of 3:12.23 set by a different US lineup in the heats on Sunday night.

  "We knew what we were capable of, but I am still in disbelief that we did what we did," Lezak said. "All of us stuck to our jobs as a unit.

  "The French are an amazing squad, and it's incredible we beat them."