OK, who caught the men's 4x100 freestyle (swimming) finals last night? Anyone?
I was flipping around, and decided to watch the Olympics for a bit. And the race just happened to be coming up. While I'm not the best swimmer, I'm a fan of all (well, most) sports, and definitely a fan of some good competition. So I hunkered down to watch. Plus, there was the interesting side stories; France being favored and talking shit to the Americans, and Phelps and his quest for 8 gold medals (at the 8/8/08 games... how fitting).
What a freaking race. I was screaming at the TV. I think I may have stood up to cheer.
The final result (for the people who don't know/didn't catch it)...
Team Sweden - Congratulations! You just broke the world record in this event! But, um... you don't get a medal.
Team Italy - Congratulations! You not only broke the world record, but you beat Sweden. Too bad you don't get a medal, either.
Team Australia - Congratulations! You broke the world record by over a full second! For your troubles, you get a bronze medal.
Team France - Congratulations! You broke the world record by almost two seconds! Too bad it's only good enough for a silver.
Team USA - Holy shit, that was incredible. I didn't think he'd catch the Frenchman.
No way. But he started closing in. And then they were even. They touched at about the same time, but who touched first? Team USA. By 8 hundredths of a second (another 8!). That's faster than the blink of an eye. Congratulations - you get the gold.
Just an incredible race.
That's why I love the Olympics.
Posted by mikey at 01:25 PM.
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Lezak is a UCSB alum---wooo go UCSB! The Olympics are awesome and swimming is one of my favorite events to watch.
Posted by
Jen on 08/11 at 04:35 PM
holy cow, that was amazing. my roommate and I were cheering too.
one of my friends said that Lezak was drafting the French guy until the end -- he was able to conserve energy by swimming just a half a body length behind, since the French guy was swimming close to the divider. Don't know if it's true, but pretty sweet. I couldn't believe that he came up a half body length in something like 5-10 yards. amazing
Posted by
Leah on 08/11 at 06:47 PM
I'm a big sports fan. But even I didn't think you'd ever find me screaming at the television for a swimming event. And yet there I was, yelling all sorts of obscenities at the broadcast, as if they could hear me in China. That was amazing.
Posted by
Finy on 08/11 at 07:24 PM
I was totally screaming at the t.v. I was yelling profanities just like it was a football game. Football season is upon us and I'm sooo looking forward to embarrassing myself in public as I scream bad words and jump up and down. My boyfriend doesn't know what he's gotten himself into.
I'm craving hot, buttery popcorn right now. That is all.
Posted by
April on 08/12 at 01:40 PM
oy vay! you should have heard all the Phelps-related Trivia Team names yesterday. "I stroke more breasts than Phelps" "My sp&rm swims faster than Phelps" Phelps this, Phelps that. "I don't care if she's 16, she's a gymnast" And then there was us: Wicked Smaaht.
Posted by
strayfarce on 08/14 at 06:59 AM
It's exciting stuff like this story that makes the Olympics all worth it. Amazing.
Posted by
Deltus on 08/15 at 11:27 AM
