101 replies to this topic

[RedSoxinIsrael]

On Youtube already

I suck at languages but I'm pretty sure it's not the french one. Still great to see.

[The Napkin]

do the guys that swam in the prelims get medals too?

[favreauk]

I believe they do

[The Napkin]

good

(and thanks)

Edited by The Napkin, 10 August 2008 - 11:01 PM.

[GreenMountain]

On Youtube already

I suck at languages but I'm pretty sure it's not the french one. Still great to see.

Portuguese I think.

[Monbo Jumbo]

'tard cap' in french is 'nard chapeau'

[Bongorific]

Where was Jones during the last leg of the race? Phelps and the dude that swam the 2nd leg were going nuts cheering on Leezak at the finish and Jones just strolls back to the pool after the race is over

[DannyHeep]

Suck it France.

They looked so deflated. You would think the French would be experts at the agony of defeat.

Edited by DannyHeep, 10 August 2008 - 11:04 PM.

[LeftyTG]

i'm still pumped over that race - i actually let out a yelp and woke up my wife when the graphic popped up showing the US took it...this is why I love the Olympics. I can't imagine caring about swimming outside of 2 weeks every 4 years.

[favreauk]

Just double checked, they do get a medal just not a place on the stand.

[DJnVa]

The team that came in 5th also beat the existing World Record.

[amh03]

That was an amazing race!

I'm going to be so exhausted in 2 weeks....

[Spelunker]

[Jeff Van GULLY]

France lost again? Is this the swimming equivalent of the Maginot Line for France?

[The Napkin]

Just double checked, they do get a medal just not a place on the stand.

awesome, thanks!

[DegenerateSoxFan]

Another amazing thing about this race, the Aussie leadoff guy Sullivan smashed the world record for 100 free (The leadoff split can count as a world record because it's a flat start) with a 47.24. Bernard had it previously at 47.50. Oh yeah, and Phelps opened with a 47.51.

Insane.

Edited by DegenerateSoxFan, 10 August 2008 - 11:16 PM.

[cutman1000]

Holy shit that was amazing. The olympics rule.

[shane88888]

Sweet redemption for Lezak. I don't know why the frog didn't hug the opposite side of the lane. He let Lezak draft him.

Small boo for Rowdy Gaines for not mentioning the 1984 800 Free Relay as the greatest of all time. Bruce Hayes vs. World Record Holder Michael "The Albatross" Gross. After all, Rowdy was there.

edit: for some reason, there's only a shitty copy of this race on Youtube.

Edited by shane88888, 10 August 2008 - 11:17 PM.

[Ed Hillel]

Anyone know when the 100 meter fly is?

[DegenerateSoxFan]

Small boo for Rowdy Gaines for not mentioning the 1984 800 Free Relay as the greatest of all time. Bruce Hayes vs. World Record Holder Michael "The Albatross" Gross. After all, Rowdy was there.

He did mention the 4 x 200 in Athens where Klete Keller held off Thorpe at the end. That one was pretty sweet.

I put today's masterpiece at the top. A 46.06 Split to catch the (no longer) world record holder at the wall? 47.24 to set the world record in the leadoff leg? The team that finished FIFTH beat the previous world record time? That was as good as it gets.

[Rocco Graziosa]

That relay was simply amazing. THATS what sports is all about. I have a five year old girl who is just getting interested in swimming and I can't fucking wait to show her this race. Kudos to the anchor........whatever his name is......you fucking showed that even a sport like swimming isn't just about the stats, its about human beings who can rise (or fall in the case of the French) to the occasion to achieve greatness if thats whats in your heart. The last 15 seconds of that race might have been the coolest thing I've seen in a long LONG time.

Edit: Anyone questioning if this was the greatest relay of all time........the team that finished FIFTH "broke" the previous world record time. Those guys were fucking FLYING.

Double Edit: And fuck you France. Seriously, FUCK YOU. You got a pair of balls on you calling us out given the history between the two countries. If you got invaded by a country of swimmers I'm 100% confident we would have to send Phelps and his cronies over there to bail you out. Again.

Triple Edit: And the golf match today was top knotch as well. What a day for faggy, rich white guy sports!

Quadruple Edit: Just watched it again.......if that hug between the Americans right after the race doesn't personify what "sport" is all about, then I don't know what does. <chills>

Edited by Rocco Graziosa, 10 August 2008 - 11:57 PM.

[ent5]

Just watched the race...
that what makes the Olympics so awesome, and heart warming....except for very few, these guys..and gals, spend 4 years laboring in obscurity, and yet at moments like these, when the human spirit truly triumphs, and you see people like Lezak, just left up his younger and more famous team mates.....it's brilliant..

Edited by ent5, 10 August 2008 - 11:48 PM.

[shane88888]

What a day for faggy, rich white guy sports!

Hey now. Cullen Jones is now the first brother to hold a swimming world record.

[Stuart Scott's Lazy Eye]

On Youtube already

I suck at languages but I'm pretty sure it's not the french one. Still great to see.

It's amazing that no matter what language it is, I get chills when I watch it.

[gaelgirl]

I fucking love swimming. Love it. I am so fucking stoked. I was jumping up and down and screaming at the television. I cannot believe Lezak out-touched that gigantic Frenchie ass. Talk about the thrill of victory (US Men winning by .08) and the agony of defeat (Katie Hoff second by .07). Fuck it, I'll trade a Hoff gold (I'll trade like five of them, actually) for a men's relay win and keeping alive the chance to make history. I'm especially excited that it made the "it just won't happen, they need to fight to hang on to silver" announcer dude look like an ass.

I still think it'll be incredibly difficult for Phelps to win eight gold medals even if the U.S. wins all the relays, but fuck... he is so good. But, there are just so many great swimmers and anything can happen. I'm especially nervous about the IM relay after Brendan Hansen looked fairly crappy again tonight.

I'm also amused that Michael Phelps has the tendency to look a little bit like a Special Olympics medalist rather than the greatest swimmer in the history of all time.

On another topic entirely, I think Natalie Coughlin is more attractive than Amanda "horse teeth" Beard.

[Boston CyberSox]

Where was Jones during the last leg of the race? Phelps and the dude that swam the 2nd leg were going nuts cheering on Leezak at the finish and Jones just strolls back to the pool after the race is over

If you watch the replay, you'll see C-J at the left side of the pool in the closing seconds of the race. He jumps into the air as Lezak touches the wall.

Based on his reaction once he got back to the group, I suspect he moved away from his team because he was disappointed by getting absolutely smoked in the 3rd leg....though perhaps he wanted the perspective of being able to monitor the finish from the wall itself...

Edit: Just noticed that NBCOlympics.com has finally put the full replay online: 4x100 Replay @ NBCOlympics.com

Edited by Boston CyberSox, 11 August 2008 - 02:52 AM.

[LateRally]

What an unbelievable race. Just outstanding. I've watched it like 10 times on DVR. Can't stop watching it.

Sweet redemption for Lezak. I don't know why the frog didn't hug the opposite side of the lane. He let Lezak draft him.

This nails it. What a huge blunder by Bernard. A guy with his experience should know this. This one mistake alone cost the French the gold.

If you watch the replay, you'll see C-J at the left side of the pool in the closing seconds of the race. He jumps into the air as Lezak touches the wall.

Based on his reaction once he got back to the group, I suspect he moved away from his team because he was disappointed by getting absolutely smoked in the 3rd leg....though perhaps he wanted the perspective of being able to monitor the finish from the wall itself...

I think it was definitely the former. Jones was smoked, and left his team with a seemingly insurmountable deficit. He seemed much more relieved than happy once he realized Lezak bailed him out. Regardless, wtf was he doing all the way over by the stands? You gotta stay with your teammates, not go sulk in a corner.


On a final note, the chick with the tray of medals is absolutely smoking hot.

Edited by LateRally, 11 August 2008 - 04:09 AM.

[Sille Skrub]

best Olympic moment yet

Second best.

Great moment, but I liked the sight of earthquake survivor/hero Lin Hao walking in with Chinese flag bearer Yao Ming better.

more

[NortheasternPJ]

I can't believe he made up that much ground and swam that in 46 seconds. Jesus.

[Sille Skrub]

You know how I do.

breaking out....

Megathreads = France
New Threads = USA! USA! USA!

[Guinevere]

Just watched the NBC video -- WOW what an incredible race for the men. Lezak was absolutely incredible. Definitely my favorite moment so far.

The women looked pretty good as well, too bad they didn't have quite as much firepower to start the race -- but Dara Torres also smoked the anchor leg and almost got them the gold. Another 10 yards and she would have caught the Dutch. Damn those walls at the end of the lanes!

[baghdadjamie]

Just for the record, Jamie is French. I haven't had an opportunity to make this much fun of him since the start of the war. Sweet.

I'm Canadian French you damn kike.

[DukeSox]

Someone should make a website like www.thankyoujason.com or something, where people can just give him money. I'd paypal that guy 5 bucks no problem.

Is someone like him (publically unknown, but pro swimmer his whole adult life, 3 olympics, etc.) financially independent? If a million Americans gave $5 (or less), he would deserve it.

[Bosoxen]

What an incredible relay. My brother and I both used to swim competitively, so we'd been watching most of the swimming events over the weekend. But that relay was the event that we were both looking forward to the most.

Once Jones got smoked on the third leg, we both seemed to have lost the wind out of our sails. Then Lezak made that turn, and made up a significant amount of ground. We both stood up and just started going nuts as he kept inching closer and closer. When they got to the flags it was full-on jumping and screaming.

I was so fired up, that I needed more than an hour to wind down so I could get some sleep.

Triple Edit: And the golf match today was top knotch as well. What a day for faggy, rich white guy sports!

Blow it out your ass, fuckface. I used to be a competitive swimmer. I'm neither faggy nor white.

<insert Mexican swimming across the river joke, here>

On another topic entirely, I think Natalie Coughlin is more attractive than Amanda "horse teeth" Beard.

This needed to be repeated. Natalie Coughlin makes me extremely happy in the pants. She's a close second to the Aussie - Stephanie Rice - on my list of smoking hot swimmers. God, I love female swimmers. LOVE them.

[ent5]

I think it was definitely the former. Jones was smoked, and left his team with a seemingly insurmountable deficit. He seemed much more relieved than happy once he realized Lezak bailed him out. Regardless, wtf was he doing all the way over by the stands? You gotta stay with your teammates, not go sulk in a corner.
On a final note, the chick with the tray of medals is absolutely smoking hot.

Actually no.... he was bending like he was trying to see the finish from that angle for better view, the moment he saw the finish he started jumping up and down. He wasn't by the stands, he was at the other edge of the pool.

Edited by ent5, 11 August 2008 - 08:26 AM.

[bsj]

the most amazing thing to me was...he was about 1 full body length back with 1/4 of the pool remaining.

That he made that up is borderline superhuman.

[bsj]

When you're the world-record holder but you cannot hold a lead in your specialty, that's not good. When that happens after you've talked smack, that's worse. At least it took a superhuman swim to beat Bernard.

Afterward I asked the French technical team director, Claude Fauquet, about Bernard's prediction.

"Well," Fauquet said, "I think he got it wrong."

[B H Kim]

Actually no.... he was bending like he was trying to see the finish from that angle for better view, the moment he saw the finish he started jumping up and down. He wasn't by the stands, he was at the other edge of the pool.

On the Today Show this morning, he said that he was so exhausted after his leg that he was just getting out of the pool as the race ended. That's why he was on the side of the pool (where the ladder is located).

Edited by B H Kim, 11 August 2008 - 09:22 AM.

[Shelterdog]

On the Today Show this morning, he said that he was so exhausted after his leg that he was just getting out of the pool as the race ended. That's why he was on the side of the pool (where the ladder is located).

I wouldn't be shocked if he was puking his guts out at the time.

While Jones got beaten on his leg, he swam pretty well. He went 47.61. The swimmer who beat him, Bousquet, went 46.63 which was (until Lezak's unearthly swim) the fast relay split ever. For comparison, Phelps went 47.51.

Edited by Shelterdog, 11 August 2008 - 09:35 AM.

[bsj]

Yeah, Jones, I think, i getting some unfair heat here....47.61 is a really strong time, and it was widely acknowledged that he was going to probably lose some ground to his french counterpart....the theory all along was, the first 2 legs needed to result in a lead of at least a couple body lengths, which Jones could hopefull hold onto at least a small portion of, so that the last leg was at worst even, to give Lezak a chance. Jones basically got a half body lead max and that was quickly gobbled up by a stellar time out of Bousquet.

[LahoudOrBillyC]

I gotta say it. I love France, and love French people. Love.

Anyway, this was truly one of the greatest of Olympic moments. My long-time personal favorite is the 800-meter track race in Munich. I won't tell you who won.

[DegenerateSoxFan]

For comparison, Phelps went 47.51.

Phelps went off a flat start, which is usually about a second slower than a relay start. Phelps' time was the third-fastest 100 off of a flat start in history (Bernard had held the record at 47.50, which Australia's Eamon Sullivan beat with a 47.24 in the opening leg).

[tims4wins]

FYI, the entire race is now up on nbcolympics.com

[shane88888]

<insert Mexican swimming across the river joke, here>

Why does Mexico have such a shitty Olympic team?

Because anyone who can run, jump, or swim is already in Texas.

[LateRally]

For the record, I'm not ripping on Jones. He swam as well as he could, essentially matching his time in the semis which was good enough to earn him the spot in the finals, but he did get smoked. I wouldn't have expected to hear him say he was so exhausted he had to slide over 4 lanes and use the ladder to climb out.

[LahoudOrBillyC]

I don't know, it seems like Jones did OK. He lost about a body length to the French guy in 100 meters, but the French dude is one of the world's best sprinters. It looked to me like Jones was the second best swimmer in the pool during the 3rd leg.

He was incredibly tired. It was odd to watch the three of them (when he finally made it over there) screaming and yelling and he is doubled over in pain. He's got a Gold, and he deserves it.

[Ahriman]

In French: http://www.veoh.com/...5563071QEpSY54B

(Ends shortly after the touch)

[Ed Hillel]

In French: http://www.veoh.com/...5563071QEpSY54B

(Ends shortly after the touch)

Whoa, who's that chick at the end? She comes out of nowhere. Awesome video, although I'd love to find the video that extends about a minute or so after that. Not enough depression.

[koufax32]

Whoa, who's that chick at the end? She comes out of nowhere. Awesome video, although I'd love to find the video that extends about a minute or so after that. Not enough depression.

Nevermind. I thought I heard "arret!" It was the opposite in "allez!" which means go.

Edited by koufax32, 11 August 2008 - 05:46 PM.

[favreauk]

Just found this quote:
"A fingertip did the victory," said Amaury Leveaux, one of the French swimmers. "It is nothing."

what a twat