THE highlight of the 2008 Olympics

If you missed the 4x100 free relay final at the Olympics yesterday, you seriously gotta watch it.

But first, some background information to set the stage. The favored French team -- specifically anchor swimmer Alain Bernard -- had been doing some major trash-talking in advance of this race, saying, "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came for."

Meanwhile, as if winning a gold medal -- and sticking it to the French in the process -- weren't motivation enough for the Americans, superstar Michael Phelps needed to win this event (along with every other event he's competing in) to attain his goal of winning eight gold medals in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz's single-Olympics record. And this is one of the events Phelps didn't win in Athens. ESPN called it the toughest of his races. So it's a big deal.

But Phelps isn't Team USA's anchor swimmer on the 4x100 free, so he wasn't the one going head-to-head with Bernard. That role fell to Jason Lezak, a less famous but still spectacular swimmer who's such a good "closer" that he's known in swimming circles as "the Mariano Rivera of sprinters." Even so, making up ground on Bernard would be a tough task for anybody, considering the French closer holds the individual world record in 100-meter freestyle.

Now, all that said... just watch the video.

What a comeback!! Pretty amazing, no? U-S-A! U-S-A! Suck it, France! ;)

(You'll need Microsoft's Silverlight plugin to watch the video. It's compatible with both Windows and Mac.)

Here are some articles about the race:

Lezak, Not Phelps, Puts On a Show --New York Times

Lezak runs down French to win relay gold for U.S. --ESPN

'No way' turns into 'no quit' for Lezak, men's relay team --ESPN's Pat Forde

Phelps wins second Olympic gold; Lezak saves --L.A. Times

Phelps, mates awed by Lezak swim to Olympic gold --L.A. Times

Lezak answers Phelps' prayers --L.A. Times's Edwin Moses