While the French talk smack, the U.S. deliver one

“The U.S. men’s 4x100m free relay team won gold Monday in the most exciting, most record-breaking, most amazing, thrilling, unbelievable relay anyone could ever imagine,” NBCOlympics.com reports.

Did you see this? I watched it live last night. I wasn’t feeling terribly well this past weekend, and I really needed to get some sleep, but I stayed up to watch the Men’s 4x100m free relay to see if the U.S. men just might do it. If you missed it, you have to watch the replay here.

It wasn’t looking good for them to take the gold, but they were fairly secure to get the silver. Just 50m left in the race, the French looked unbeatable. But then… Jason Lezak did the unthinkable. As one report said, “People always step up and do things out of the ordinary at the Olympics.” Lezak’s 100 m leg was the fastest split in relay history – 46.06 seconds.

The top five teams in this race all BROKE the world record. The U.S. team SHATTERED it, coming ahead a full 4 seconds of the world record, and just 0.08 seconds ahead of the second place French team. It’s amazing what the power of competition produces.

Days ahead of the race, when asked about the American team, French swimmer Alain Bernard replied: “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for.” Well to give him credit, perhaps Bernard didn’t think the Americans could finish a full 4 seconds ahead of the previous world record time. But, it was Bernard who was so far ahead on that final leg. Perhaps some of his smack-talking got to his head.

In the end, it was the American team that won the gold. That’s now 2 individual golds for Michael Phelps in his quest to become the greatest Olympian ever. Whatever happens during the rest of the Olympic games, it is clear the U.S. mens swimming team didn’t come here to talk smack, but rather to shatter records and take home some gold. In sports, you do your talking on the field of play (or in this case in the water).