Wicked Fast

In my last post, I think my frustration with the Beijing games was apparent. What I really needed was a little Olympic magic to get me back on board and feeling good about the whole production. The magic arrived last night. The men's 4 x 100 freestyle relay team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak silenced some trash-talking French poolboys by putting together a come-from-behind, last second victory that demolished the previous world record by nearly four seconds.

In the aftermath, anchor Jason Lezak is getting much of the press for his anchor leg heroics. Trailing by a half body length deficit at the turn, Lezak found a gear somewhere between "hauling ass" and "superhuman" over the last 10 meters, outreaching Alain Bernard at the wall to snag the win. There was no mystery about the affiliation of most of the 17,000 fans at the Cube, as the place exploded following finish. It was one of those sporting moments that you can walk into with no context whatsoever and still get pumped about. Well, unless you're French.

NBC tried a little too hard following the spectacle to grant the race "instant-classic" cred, but I'm letting that slide. This was the most exciting 3 minutes and 8 seconds in recent Olympic history.