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00:00No country had ever beaten the U.S. in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.
00:05Ever since the event was introduced in 1964, the U.S. were completely untouchable.
00:10Year after year, decade after decade, for seven Olympics in a row, the U.S. won gold.
00:16And with the fastest swimmers in the world on their team, the U.S. also continuously destroyed their own world
00:22records,
00:22leaving all the other nations vying for silver.
00:25However, when the Olympics came down under to Sydney in 2000, Australia had somehow got it into their heads that
00:32they actually had a chance at winning the event.
00:35Australia hadn't even made it onto the podium in the previous Olympics.
00:38So for the Aussies to suddenly start thinking that they could actually upset the U.S. stranglehold, it was a
00:44little strange.
00:45But this collective delusion that seemed to have permeated the country wasn't just blind faith.
00:50The Australian relay team in 2000 was the strongest it had ever been, including two of the most dominant swimmers
00:56in the world at the time.
00:57Ian Thorpe, also known as the Thorpedo, and Michael Klim, who were both world record holders in other events, just
01:04not in the 100m freestyle.
01:05On top of that, just a year earlier at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships, the Australian team managed to beat
01:12the U.S. team for the first time in history.
01:14However, at that championship, the U.S. team was missing one of their star swimmers.
01:19No Gary Hall Jr., though.
01:21Gary Hall Jr. was an incredible sprint swimmer at the time.
01:24He was the best in America, though he was also a bit of a showboat, often dressing in flamboyant boxing
01:29robes and shadow boxing before races, happily paying whatever fines he would get for wearing non-approved apparel.
01:36But as he took these antics to the world stage, his quintessential American confidence was perceived by the rest of
01:42the world as arrogance.
01:43And after Australia's first win, when a newspaper asked Gary whether he thought the Aussies could win the following year
01:49at the Olympics, Gary certainly didn't pull any punches, telling the paper that the American team would smash the Australians
01:56like guitars.
01:57Of course, the following day, that quote was on the front page of every newspaper in Australia.
02:02And as the Sydney 2000 Olympics kicked off and the freestyle relay approached, the country's eyes were on the Australian
02:09team to make Gary Hall Jr. eat his words.
02:12Early in the day, with the support of his home country, Ian Thorpe smashed out a gold medal and a
02:17world record in the solo 400 metres.
02:19So as the crowd anticipated the 4x100 relay, which was coming up just an hour later, the tension continued to
02:26build.
02:27But as the event arrived, the teams were announced and the Australian crowd waited, anticipating the torpedo to come out
02:33at any moment, he was nowhere to be seen.
02:36Ian, who was swimming in a full-body swimsuit for this Games, had pulled it down after his 400 metre
02:41win, and with it still being wet, he was struggling to put it back on.
02:45As he pulled it up, he began to hear it tear. As the Australian team was announced, he finally appeared.
02:52The US team still weren't worried. They figured that Ian would be exhausted after his earlier win, and with Gary
02:57Hall Jr. back in their team, they were still confident that this relay would be just like every other Olympics.
03:03The US first, and everyone else trickling in behind.
03:06But as Michael Klim from Australia swam the first leg, America started getting nervous.
03:11Michael surged ahead of all the other swimmers, and as he made it back to the blocks, he'd swam the
03:17first leg so fast that he'd broken the existing 100 metre freestyle world record.
03:22But as the race continued, the US gradually caught up, eating into Australia's lead, and as Ian Thorpe prepared for
03:28the final leg against Gary Hall Jr., he knew Australia was in trouble.
03:32Ian was fast, but he was better over longer distances. The 200 and 400 metre freestyle were his domain.
03:39Gary, on the other hand, was dominant in the shorter 50 and 100 metre freestyle.
03:43Ian figured he might be able to keep Gary off his tail if he started out ahead, and as he
03:47entered the pool, thanks to the strength of his team, he did start out with a lead.
03:51But as he neared the other end of the 50 metre pool, he witnessed firsthand how dominant Gary truly was
03:57over that length.
03:58Gary pulled out ahead, and the once optimistic Australian crowd went quiet.
04:02Ian felt like he was letting down the country.
04:05Gary's claim started rattling through his brain, taunting him. It was starting to ring true.
04:10Ian was getting smashed like a guitar.
04:12But after the turn, in the last 50 metres, as Ian lift his head with each breath, he fought to
04:17close the gap, and it was working.
04:19As Ian caught up with each stroke, his confidence returned.
04:22He could feel the noise in the crowd building.
04:25He knew it would be close, so in the final 10 metres, Ian stopped looking.
04:29He held his breath, put his head down, and he swam, until...
04:34The Australians have just broken the American stranglehold on this race.
04:40But Australia hadn't just won gold.
04:42They'd also smashed America's world record by nearly two seconds.
04:46The Sydney crowd exploded with support, and just to rub salt in the wound,
04:51the Aussie team stood at the end of the pool, staring at Gary Hall Jr., and started strumming their air
04:56guitars.
04:57Gary Hall Jr. didn't return to the event after this moment, instead choosing to focus all of his energy on
05:02the 50 metre freestyle.
05:04Four years later, at Athens in 2004, the US team now had a chip on their shoulder,
05:09and they were eager to prove themselves in the event they once dominated.
05:13And with the addition of Michael Phelps to the team, things were looking bright once again for the Americans.
05:18After all, it was this Olympics that Michael Phelps became a household name,
05:22earning himself six gold medals and tying the world record for the most medals of any colour won in a
05:28single Olympics.
05:28But as the finals began, it quickly became obvious that the US dominance in the event was well and truly
05:34over.
05:35But this time, it wasn't the Australian team, but the South African team who blew everybody out of the water,
05:41winning gold and breaking the world record once again.
05:43And this time, the US couldn't even take home silver, after their anchor, Jason Lezak,
05:48was edged out right at the end of the race by the Dutch team.
05:52Four years flew by once again.
05:55And in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there were a few notable news stories in the American
06:00swimming world.
06:01Michael Phelps was gearing up to try and win a gold medal in every one of his eight events.
06:06Gary Hall Jr. had come out in the 50-metre US trials wearing a cape that claimed he was the
06:11godfather of swimming
06:12and then failed to qualify for the Olympics.
06:15But the story that really had people talking came from a voice outside of America,
06:19from an interview with the new 100-metre freestyle world record holder, France's Alain Bernard.
06:25In a claim oddly reminiscent of what Gary Hall had said eight years earlier,
06:29Alain boasted that the French team would smash the Americans in Beijing.
06:33So as the teams made their way to Beijing and the games kicked off,
06:36it quickly became clear that this year's 4x100 relay would be a battle destined for the history books.
06:42America's B-team sent shockwaves through the event when they beat South Africa's world record in the preliminaries.
06:48However, when both Australia and France's B-team also clocked in preliminary times faster than the previous world record,
06:55the stage was set for a final in the event like nobody had ever seen before.
07:00As the starting beep sounded, the three countries set off.
07:03By the end of the first 50 metres, Australia's newest swimming superstar,
07:07Amon Sullivan, had a clear lead over Michael Phelps,
07:10managing to continue pulling ahead all the way through to the end of the first leg,
07:15in which he managed to break the 100-metre freestyle world record again,
07:19stealing it from France's Alain Bernard.
07:21It was a mirror image of what Australia pulled off in 2000.
07:25The Americans in the crowd couldn't believe that it was happening to them all over again.
07:28However, as each team's second swimmers entered the pool, the Americans caught up and ended up leading through the second
07:35leg.
07:35Then, by the third, the Aussies started to fall away and it became a fight between France and the US.
07:41France pulled ahead and as the race came into its final leg,
07:44it was up to the French former world record holder Alain Bernard to finish the job and smash the US,
07:50just like he'd said they would.
07:51As Alain entered the pool, the US once again sent in Jason Lezak.
07:55At this point, Jason was no stranger to taking home the anchor leg of a relay.
07:59Through his career, he'd taken home gold for the US team in just about every medley relay,
08:04which is the one where every swimmer does a different stroke style.
08:07But after being beaten by the Dutch team at the Olympics in 2004,
08:10and also swimming before Gary Hall's devastating anchor leg in Jason's first Olympics in 2000,
08:16Jason was determined to do whatever he could,
08:18to reassert America's dominance and earn his first gold in the event.
08:22But as Alain Bernard pulled away from Jason through the first 50 metres,
08:26it was going to take a miracle for Jason to close the gap.
08:29The NBC commentators started to lose hope.
08:32I just don't think they can do it.
08:34The US team watched on devastated as Alain continued smashing them.
08:38Between each stroke, Jason was breathing on his right side,
08:41so he didn't even know that Alain was pulling further ahead until he hit the end of the pool.
08:45The United States trying to hang on a second.
08:47But as Jason completed his turn and was now able to see Alain pulling ahead of him,
08:53something quite remarkable started to unfold.
08:55He's trying to ride that wave as much as possible.
08:59After realizing that Alain Bernard was swimming right up against the lane line,
09:03Jason too stayed as close to the line as he could,
09:06hoping that he could take advantage of the slipstream created by Alain's wake.
09:10See, as swimmers push through the still water, breaking the water tension,
09:13the water behind the swimmer becomes easier to swim through.
09:16And if done strategically, the swimmers behind can use that dynamic to their advantage.
09:21And for Jason, it actually seemed like it was working.
09:26Alain and Jason were neck and neck right up until the last moment and then...
09:30Here comes Lezak! Unbelievable at the end! He's done it! The US has done it!
09:35The US reclaimed the gold, and they set yet another new world record for the 4x100 freestyle.
09:41Jason Lezak's split time has gone down in history as the fastest 100-meter freestyle split of all time.
09:47And with this win under his belt, Michael Phelps went on to successfully secure eight gold medals,
09:53setting the world record for the most golds won in a single Olympics.
09:56As for Alain Barnard and the French team?
09:58I think they need to use another word other than smash!
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