Phelps' quest for eight golds barely stays alive

BEIJING -- Michael Phelps' historic quest for eight gold medals at these Olympics remained alive Monday. Barely. Phelps and the U.S. 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay team won the gold medal at the National Aquatics Center with a world-record time of 3:08.24, edging France, which finished in 3:08.32. Australia won the bronze in 3:09.91. Each shattered the previous world record of 3:12.23, set by a different U.S. team in Sunday's preliminaries. With 50 meters to go, it appeared that Phelps' chance at history was sunk. U.S. anchor Jason Lezak trailed France's Alain Bernard by a body length. But Lezak swept by the former world-record holder and nipped him at the wall. "Jason is the fastest relay swimmer of all-time," said Phelps. "His last 50 were absolutely incredible. He had a perfect finish." Added U.S. men's team coach Eddie Reese: "There's never been (a split like this) in my memory. Not running down somebody who holds the world record who's on their game. That was incredible." After capturing gold medals in the 4 x 100 free in all eight Olympics in which the event was held between 1964 and 1996, the U.S. won the silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Reclaiming the gold was a high priority for the U.S. team, but it wasn't going to be easy. In fact, they weren't even favored entering the Games. France swam 3:12.36 in the semifinals, without Bernard, who was the existing world record holder in the 100 free. Australia was narrowly behind at 3:12.41, without Eamonn Sullivan, who entered the race with the second-fastest 100 of all time. Both teams got faster in the finals. But so did the U.S. U.S. swim coaches had the peculiar task of tearing up the team that set the world record in Sunday's preliminaries. Dropped from the final were Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers and Ben Wildman-Tobriner. Added were three swimmers who had been faster at the Olympic trials in July: Phelps, three-time Olympian and American record holder Lezak, and 2008 Olympic trials champion Garrett Weber-Gale. Cullen Jones, the lone holdover from the preliminary round, rounded out the American quartet in the finals. The moves paid off. "The 400 free relay has been spanked around the last two Olympics," said Reese. "This was the toughest one to win. Those are always the best ones to win." Competing barely an hour after swimming the fourth-fastest time in the 200-meter freestyle semifinals, Phelps led off the relay with an American-record 47.51 split. But the Americans trailed the Australians behind Sullivan's world-record time of 47.24. Weber-Gale pulled the Americans past the Aussies into the lead, but Jones lost the lead to the French. With 50 meters to go Lezak appeared to be beaten. But he didn't give up. "When I flipped at the 50 and saw how far ahead he was, the thought crossed my mind for a split-second: there's no way. Then it flipped. No, I'm here representing the my country. ... "I got a supercharge and took it from there. It was unreal." Added Reese: "That split. It had to be the best ever. That's the kind of anchor you dream of. It shows what you can do when you don't think about it you just go."(E-mail David Nielsen at nielsend(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)