“He’s Done It!”: Relive Jason Lezak’s Epic Anchor Leg 12 Years Later

“I just don’t think they can do it, Dan.”

Those were the words said by Rowdy Gaines as Jason Lezak dove in trailing France’s Alain Bernard by just under six-tenths of a second (0.59) for the anchor leg of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics. And who could blame him?

As acknowledged by Gaines on the NBC broadcast prior to the race, on paper, France had the better team. Amaury Leveaux had broken the individual 100 free Olympic Record leading off in the prelims, Fabien Gilot had been sub-48 that year, and Frederick Bousquet had unleashed the fastest relay split in history in the heats in 46.63.

Bookending the team was Bernard, who had set the individual world record less than five months prior in 47.50. While Lezak had set a new American Record at the U.S. Olympic Trials, just shy of Bernard’s mark in 47.58, making up that 0.59 seemed like a herculean task. And it was.

Michael Phelps, whose goal of winning eight gold medals at the Games (requiring an American win to keep that hope alive) added another layer to the narrative, broke Lezak’s AR opening up in 47.51, second to Aussie Eamon Sullivan who broke Bernard’s world record in 47.24. Leveaux was four-tenths back of Phelps in 47.91.

Garrett Weber-Gale, who was making his Olympic debut swimming second, was nine-tenths under his Trials-winning time in 47.02 to slightly extend the U.S. lead as Gilot split 47.05 to put France second.

Everything changed on the third leg, as Bousquet matched his prelim leg in 46.63 to out-split Cullen Jones (47.65) by a full second, handing Bernard that 0.59 lead coming into the anchor.

The U.S. hadn’t won this relay at the Olympics since 1996, having lost an epic showdown with Australia in 2000 and then got blown out of the water by the South Africans in 2004. So, the team’s fire was already pretty lit. Adding fuel to that fire? Bernard claiming the French would “smash” the Americans. There was a lot at stake here as the six foot five Frenchman dove in with Lezak hot on his tail.

Bernard absolutely torched the opening 50, splitting 21.27 to the feet (which was actually under the 50 free individual world record of 21.28 at the time) to extend his lead over the Americans to 0.82 seconds. Lezak, too, was out like a mad man in 21.50.

“The United States trying to hang on to second, they should get the silver medal,” Gaines’ play-by-play partner Dan Hicks said as the two broke out onto their second 50. “Australia is in bronze territory right now… but Lezak is closing a little bit, on Bernard! Could the veteran chase him down, and pull off a shocker here?”

Bernard, clearly starting to lose stroke efficiency as he tightened up, begins swimming on the left side of his lane. Lezak jumped on his wave, swimming as far right as he could, and began to run down France.

It was with about 15 meters left that Lezak turned on the nitrous.

“Bernard is losing some ground, here comes Lezak, unbelievable at the end, he’s done it! The U.S. has done it!” said Hicks.

“He did it! He did it!” adds Gaines.

It was arguably the most memorable swim since the turn of the century. Lezak’s final split? 46.06, coming home in a blazing 24.56. Bernard still produced one of the fastest legs the sport has ever seen in 46.73, but it wasn’t quite enough, as Lezak touched to give the U.S. a final time of 3:08.24 to France’s 3:08.32.

Lezak went on to add another gold in the medley relay and an individual 100 free bronze in Beijing, while Phelps’ quest of winning eight gold medals at a single Games was successful, completed by Lezak on the anchor of that medley relay no less.

France would exact its revenge four years later, with Yannick Agnel providing a similar comeback style anchor victory over Ryan Lochte.

Over the last 12 years we have yet to see a 100 free relay split faster than Lezak’s, even through the 2009 super-suit era. At the 2019 World Championships, Duncan Scott came the closest, splitting 46.14 to give Great Britain an epic win in the men’s 4×100 medley relay.

Watch the anchor leg with NBC commentary, via City Of Manchester Swim Team on YouTube, below:

You can also watch the full race with no commentary via the Olympic YouTube channel here (the race starts at 5:40).

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Swum
4 years ago

Bernard got bashed a lot in France for being passed by Lezak but we should keep in mind that he swam the third fastest time (46.73) behind Bousquet and Lezak who sets the 2de and 1st fastest times in history.

Also the French federation changed the relay order just before the swimmers gets into the warm-up pull, the swimmers wanted Bousquet to anchor the relay because he was the more experienced, also they wanted to “protect” Bernard by putting him in the third leg so he will not have to much pressure for his first Olympic race. Sadly but the French federation wanted all the mediatic attention to be putt on Bernard so they made him anchor. Despite his… Read more »

DMacNCheez
Reply to  Swum
4 years ago

He split 46.4 at the 09 Worlds so I wouldn’t say he wasn’t able to swim a good really split after this.

He was part of the wave of really big and strong sprinters who exploded during the super suit era. Tall and very muscular, and with the incredibly buoyant suit he was basically a boat and could just swing his arms and motor. He wasn’t really relevant pre or post suit era.

Springbrook
4 years ago

Great article about a great race. There are some nifty memories from Lezak about the race here: https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/08/09/jason-lezak-beijing-olympic-relay-swimming/

SWIMFAN5
4 years ago

My favorite race ever. Every time I watch it I am brought back to the moment I saw it live. Nothing makes me more proud at a meet when one of my kids is an anchor and they “Lezak It!”

swimfast
4 years ago

i strangely watched this completely randomly last night on youtube. can we acknowledge that this relay was/is a) the most insanely high-riding, high-stakes combination of circumstances in swimming history, period b) the most gutsy comeback, ever c) the loudest a crowd has been at a meet (at the finish) [maybe second to phelps’ finish later in the meet, 100 fly] c 1/2) that this is by a million miles the prettiest pool anyone has seen…and really wish they would leave the post war/communist-ish architecture/lighting/color vibes they’ve been doing at meets lately and go back to brilliant color and high amounts of natural light? i get the whole arena switch but other sports don’t have a highly refractive substance as their… Read more »

Olympian
4 years ago

That swim was a clinic!!! Jason was ice cold, mastered the art of drafting and knew the perfect timing to attack a panicking Alain Bernard

Joe
4 years ago

It’s for moments like these that I can put up with Rowdy’s generally god-awful commentary.

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
Reply to  Joe
4 years ago

Rowdy’s over-the-top commentary

THEO
4 years ago

A classic! I’ll always remember watching this one and how so many non swimmers got excited about the race. I hadn’t realized how fast some of the other splits weee from both teams… crazy race!! 46s everywhere. Also a fun fact about Bernard being out faster than the 50fr WR… that’s nuts to think about someone going out under the current WR of 20.9…

Smith-King-Dahlia-Manuel
4 years ago

The prediction:

“The Americans? We’re going to smash them.”

The aftermath:

Look who is talking now.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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