Giving Alain Bernard the finger (.08s worth)
The Olympics are a time for being part of the global community, for sportsmanship, for setting aside our differences and celebrating...
...yeeeaaahhhhh! Suck it France!
In the pool, Lezak had seen Bernard hit the far wall first.
"I'm not going to lie," Lezak said. "When I flipped at the 50 and I still saw how far ahead he was, and he was the world-record holder 'til about two minutes before that, when Sullivan led off with the world record, I thought, it really crossed my mind for a split second, there's no way.
"Then I changed. I said, you know what, that's ridiculous. This is the Olympics. I'm here for these guys. I'm here for the United States of America. It's more than -- I don't care how bad it hurts, or whatever, I'm just going to go out there and hit it.
"Honestly, in like 5 seconds, I was thinking all these things -- you know, just got like a super charge and took it from there. It was unreal."
...
With the pressure of all of it on him, Lezak threw down the fastest split of all time, 46.06.