BEIJING -- Jason Lezak and his new best friend . . . the last 50 meters in the pool.
That brought him his first Olympic medal in an individual event with another stirring finish at the Water Cube this morning. Lezak, of Irvine, was fifth at the first 50 and brought it in the second half, finishing third in the star-studded 100-meter freestyle, in 47.67 seconds.
He tied for the bronze with Cesar Cielo Filho of Brazil. Winning the gold was Alain Bernard of France (47.21) and taking the silver was Eamon Sullivan of Australia (47.32). Ties in Olympic swimming are rare, and Lezak couldn't remember ever being part of one in any big international meet.
Tying with Cielo: Talk about reaching for the sky for the 32-year-old Lezak, who has two medals here, bringing his Olympic total to six. The previous five have come on relays.
By now, everyone should know that you don't bet against Lezak in the final 50. Bernard certainly learned that lesson in a classic duel on the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay Monday morning, when Lezak came from behind to grab gold for the U.S. men.
Relays giveth, and relays taketh.
The U.S. women, who had held the world record, took third in the 800-meter freestyle relay, in 7:46.33, behind Australia and China. Australia lowered the world record, going 7:44.31. Stephanie Rice won her third gold medal here, swimming in the relay's leadoff spot.
This finished the morning for the Americans on a somewhat flat note. Allison Schmitt and Natalie Coughlin had disappointing legs, with Schmitt leading off at 1:57.71 and Coughlin following in 1:57.19. A little more than a month ago, Schmitt went 1:55.92 at the Olympic trials in Omaha.
"I had to catch the people in front," said Katie Hoff, whose anchor leg was an impressive 1:54.73. "I did my best and ran out of room at the end, and that's all I could do."
Funny thing about third place at the Olympics. It brings disappointment in some quarters and individual redemption in others.
For Lezak, it was definitely the latter after failing to get out of preliminaries in the 100 freestyle at Athens.
"It's been eating at me for a long time," Lezak said. "For me to go out there and accomplish that medal, I'm really excited."
Lezak went a bit more in depth after a news conference, saying he had issues in trying to manage a busy event schedule four years ago.
