Beijing: Jason Lezak's stirring swim saw the United States stun France in an epic men's 4x100m freestyle relay final on Monday to keep Michael Phelps's dream of eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics alive.
Lezak delivered the victory, starting the final leg a body length adrift and mowing down France's vaunted sprinter Alain Bernard in the final meters to complete a world record-shattering swim of 3min 08.24sec.
When his veteran teammate touched the wall, Phelps let out a scream of triumph, punching his arms in the air as teammates Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones joined him in the celebrations.
"Unbelievable! Jason finished that race way better than we could have even asked for," Phelps said. "For that last 50, I was thinking 'this is going to be one close race'.
"The last 10 to 15 metres were incredible. I lost my voice, and I was definitely pretty emotional after that."
Still trailing at the final turn, Lezak relentlessy pursued Bernard, but it wasn't until the final 10 meters that the American was able to pull level and, finally, edge ahead as he touched with an astonishing split of 46.06sec.
"When I saw the last 50 metres, and I saw he was far ahead, I thought: 'no way,'" Lezak admitted. "Then I thought: 'That's ridiculous. This is an Olympic Games.'"
Phelps's lead-off time of 47.51 was an American record - just one-hundredth of a second off Bernard's world mark coming into the Games.
The French - Amaury Leveaux, Fabien Gilot, Frederick Bousquet and Bernard - took the silver in 3:08.32.
A blistering first 50m may have been Bernard's undoing, leaving him with too little to hold off Lezak at the end.
"I knew I had to accelerate, but it got harder," Bernard said.
Adding to French disappointment, Bernard's individual 100m free world record of 47.50 was eclipsed by Australian lead-off swimmer Eamon Sullivan, who clocked 47.24 in setting Australia on course for bronze in 3:09.91.
All three medal-winning squads - as well as fourth-placed Italy and fifth-placed Sweden - were well under the world record of 3:12.23 set by the US heat swimmers on Sunday night.
South Africa, who won gold in a world record in Athens, were seventh - their time of 3:12.66 an African record but nowhere near the medals this time around.
The relay had been touted as the biggest stumbling block to Phelps's bid for an unprecedented eight gold medals at one Games.
"I think Michael knows we didn't do this for him," Lezak said. "He was a part of it, and we were part of it.
"Whether he wins eight medals or not, it wasn't going to be our responsibility for that to happen. We all gave it our best efforts, so we didn't come up short.
"He's an amazing athelete, probably the best ever in the sport. Regardless of what happens here, he will go down in history like that."
The drama unfolded an hour and 13 minutes after Phelps - who won the 400m individual medley in world record-crushing style on Sunday - continued his quest for a second individual gold with the fourth-fastest time in the 200m freestyle semi-finals.
He was due up again on Monday night in the heats of the 200m butterfly.
Even before Phelps hit the water, the Water Cube was buzzing as Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry broke the women's 100m backstroke world record with a time of 58.77sec in the semi-finals.
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima defended his 100m breaststroke gold from Athens in a world record of 58.91sec.
Kitajima broke the previous record of 59.13 owned by American Brendan Hansen.
"Perfect and ideal," Kitajima said of his race. "This is what I have been hoping for."
Norway's Alexander Dale Oen took the silver in 59.20, four-hundredths slower than his leading semi-final time, and France's Hugues Duboscq claimed the bronze in 59.37.
Hansen was shut out of the medals, finishing fourth in his only individual event in Beijing.
The American won't challenge reigning champ and world record-holder Kitajima in the 200m, thanks to his failure to qualify for the 200m breast at the US trials.
Libby Trickett gave Australia's vaunted women's team a second gold, capturing the 100m butterfly in 56.73sec. Christine Magnuson of the United States took silver in 57.10, with Australia's Jessicah Schipper third in 57.25.
Teenager Rebecca Adlington captured Great Britain's first-ever individual women's Olympic freestyle gold with a thrilling triumph in the women's 400m.
The 19-year-old trailed by more than a second at the final turn, but surged past American Katie Hoff on the final length to win in 4:03.22.
Hoff was second in 4:03.28, and Joanne Jackson completed a great race for Britain by taking bronze in 4:03.52.
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