Jason Lezak anchored the U.S. men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay victory with Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The United States won in a world-record 3:08.24, but the race looked nearly lost entering the final leg. France’s Alain Bernard handed Lezak a lead of roughly half a second after three legs. Lezak then produced a famous comeback, swimming the anchor split in 46.06 seconds and touching first by eight hundredths of a second.
Phelps opened the final in 47.51 seconds, followed by Garrett Weber-Gale in 47.02 and Cullen Jones in 47.65. Lezak’s split was not an official individual 100-meter freestyle world record because relay exchanges give subsequent swimmers a running start, but it was extraordinarily fast and stood as the fastest relay leg for years.
France finished in 3:08.32, with Australia third in 3:09.91. The victory kept Phelps’s pursuit of eight Beijing gold medals alive and became one of the Olympics’ most replayed swimming finishes.