U.S. Olympic men’s swim team wins 400-meter freestyle relay!!!

UPDATE: Read Phelps goes 6 for 6 in Beijing and another world record

Original Post:

THEY BEAT FRANCE!!! Yoo-hoo!! What an exciting race!!! Lezak pulls it out of thin air! (And it was his personal best. Good for him!)

BEIJING — When Cullen Jones powered through the water last night, chasing history, the charismatic kid who learned to swim in Newark could hear the roar from a half a world away.

Amid the deafening cheers from the thousands squeezed into the National Aquatics Center, Jones felt the support from the scores of people that he touched along an incredible and unlikely path that began in inner city pools and led him here to the world’s biggest stage.

An ambassador for African-American swimmers, Jones wanted to shatter stereotypes one lap at a time, eager to spread his message that, yeah, black kids can swim too.

He also wanted to help out a buddy on his own personal mission.

Jones accomplished both by helping the 4X100 freestyle relay team win the gold medal in a world record time of 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds in a comeback for the ages. Jason Lezak’s erased a huge gap in the final leg to overtake France in a race soaked with drama and subplots. A few days after French swimmer Alain Bernard declared his team would “smash” the Americans in the finals, the Americans rallied in stunning fashion to helped silence their rivals.

Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerIrvington, NJ native Cullen Jones hugs Michael Phelps after winning gold in the men’s 4×100 relay finals with U.S. teammates Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale at the National Aquatics Center at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games August 10.

Fueled by some trash talk, Jones became the first African-American swimmer to win a gold medal and kept teammate Michael Phelps’ quest for an unprecedented eight golds alive. But it was Lezak’s push against Bernard in the final 50 meters that stole the show.

It was also sweet redemption for Jones, pushed off center stage after rocketing to the top of the freestylers world just two years ago.

Hours earlier in the preliminary heat, Jones, 24, helped the relay team break the world record that he was a part of at the 2006 world championships. This time, Jones erupted with a sub-48 second split in the preliminaries to help the U.S. squad finish in 3 minutes, 12.23 seconds.

“A lot of people said this was the weaker of the two relays,” Jones said. “The four of us set to do something that not many people thought we could do. I know a lot of people on our team really stood behind us and really wanted us to do it. We set the goal, and we went after it. And we weren’t afraid of the pain.”

The 400 free relay was expected to be Phelps’ biggest challenge in his march on history. The French, armed with four of the 18 fastest freestylers in the world, were expected to win.

“The French are the favorites,” Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman said before the race. “Who has the fastest relay times in the world this year?… Not us.”

Phelps’ teammates, however, maintained that there was no additional pressure to keep the superstar on track to break Mark Spitz’s 36-year old record of seven Olympic golds.

“We definitely don’t look at it like pressure on us,” said Ben Wildman-Tobriner, part of the prelim squad. “We look at it as being part of history.”

They certainly swam like they weren’t feeling the burden. National coach Eddie Reese, however, predicted a blistering pace in which “two seconds better than (the prelims world record) relay will not win.”

“It’s going to get hot,” said Reese. “We’re not scared of anybody.”

Jones did his part with the fastest split — 47.61 seconds — in the prelims. For Jones, who failed to qualify for the 100-meter freestyle with a heartbreaking third-place finish at the U.S Olympic Team Trials, it was a moment that once seemed improbable.

The Americans started off slowly on Nathan Adrian’s opening leg before Jones pulled them into second place after his blistering leg. Ben Wildman-Tobriner’s swim kept the U.S. in second before Matt Grevers’ 47.77 final leg helped the team break the previous world record of 3:12:46 set by the U.S. in 2006.

The French, swimming in the second heat of the prelims, also finished under the world record time at 3:12.41. Afterward, Jones tried to downplay the trash talk.

“There were words that were said,” said Jones. “It’s unclear. I didn’t hear it. So I’m not going to speculate. But we know that they are a force to be reckoned with.”

Before Reese confirmed that Jones would join Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale, each of whom did not participate in the prelims, in the finals, Jones admitted it would be “devastating” to have been left on the sidelines.

“But you know what?” said Jones. “I believe in the coaches, I believe they’re going to put together the fastest relay they can. If it doesn’t work out (for me), then I’ve got 2012, right?”

But he didn’t have to wait that long.

And he made history.

Chris Faytok/The Star-LedgerIrvington, NJ native Cullen Jones competes in the men’s 4×100 relay finals, with U.S. teammates Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale at the National Aquatics Center at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games August 10.

UPDATE: Click on: Michael wins a 3rd!!

UPDATE: For more on Phelps and latest relay win, click on: Michael wins 2 more to set a record with 11 Golds!!

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Tags: 400-meter freestyle, African American, Beijing 2008, Bejing, black, black America, China, Cullen Jones, France, Garret Weber-Gale, Gold medal, Jason Lezak, Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Olympics, relay, swimming, U.S., USA