Word: holderness
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...blessed, so privileged to be here to watch him swim live," said Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands. "He made me cry - tears of joy." And this from a two-time Olympic champion and Olympic record holder...
Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals remains alive and well after the U.S. men out-touched the French in a down-to-the-wire relay on August 11. It was the U.S.' shakiest event, given that the French squad boasts world record holder Alain Bernard, but Athens 2004 veteran Jason Lezak managed to beat Bernard to the wall in the last 100m by .08 of a second. The time set a new world record, dropping the previous one, set just the night before in the preliminary heat by the U.S., by nearly four seconds...
...Athens, in fact, that was on Lezak's mind as he made the turn into the final. "I'm not going to lie, but when I flipped and saw how far ahead [Bernard] was, and he's the world record holder, the thought caught my mind for a split second of: 'There's no way.' But I changed that, and said, 'This is ridiculous. This is the Olympics. I'm here for the United States of America, and I don't care how bad it hurts. So I got supercharged and took it from there...
...second ahead. It might have helped, too, that Lezak was able to see Bernard all the way down the last lap. Lezak breathes on his right side, and there's nothing like seeing exactly where your opponent is to get your stroke flying. "When you put a world record holder in the end of a relay, and go in behind them, the chance of you beating them is slim to none," said U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese. "That was amazingly fast...
...Phelps, who swam the opening leg, it means his gold medal count now stands at two, a fact that helps explain his almost primal roar when Lezak finally came to the wall. And things may get even easier: in his remaining events, Phelps is either the world record holder or owns the fastest time this year. His closest challenges may come in the 200m freestyle, from U.S. teammate Peter Vanderkaay and South Korean Taehwan Park (who has already collected a gold in Beijing in the 400m freestyle), and in the 200m individual medley, from teammate Ryan Lochte, who came only...