2004 Olympics: Swimming and Diving

08:42 PM CDT on Saturday, August 21, 2004

By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News

ATHENS, Greece – Four guys enduring tough meets concluded their Olympics with an uplifting race Saturday.

The United States' Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Jason Lezak shattered their world record in winning the 4x100-meter medley relay, each swimming a faster leg than he did in setting the old mark at last summer's world championships.

Their time of 3 minutes, 30.68 seconds was almost a second better than the previous record and nearly three seconds ahead of runner-up Germany.

A second world record fell in the relay, as Peirsol's leadoff leg broke Lenny Krayzelburg's mark for the 100 backstroke.

"I can't tell you enough what a note this is to end on for the team," said Hansen, who joined fellow Texas-exes Peirsol and Crocker on the relay.

Hansen, the world record holder in both breaststroke events, had settled for silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200. Lezak entered the 100 freestyle as the top seed but failed to reach the semifinals, then finished fifth in the 50.

Peirsol swept both backstroke events, as he was favored to do, though he was briefly disqualified after winning the 200. He also created a stir by accusing Japan's Kosuke Kitajima of using an illegal kick in beating Hansen in the 100 breaststroke.

Crocker swam a poor leadoff leg in the 4x100 freestyle relay, and the U.S. team couldn't fully recover and finished third. He didn't qualify for the semifinals of the 100 freestyle, then lost a big lead to Michael Phelps in the 100 butterfly to miss gold by .04 seconds.

That result put Phelps in the medley relay final, but he relinquished his spot to Crocker on Friday.

"I felt the relay was a gift too large to accept. When you break it down black and white, he beat me, and that's the way it is," said Crocker, the world record holder in the 100 butterfly. "But when you start to get down to the nitty-gritty of it, talking about relay experience and relay takeoffs, it gets closer and closer."

Phelps still won a relay gold because he swam in the preliminaries. That brought his medal total to eight, with six golds. He tied Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin's 1980 record for most medals in a Summer Olympics.

"I've said in the past I want to become the first Michael Phelps and do something that's never been done before," Phelps said.

He sat in the front row of the stands, waving an American flag and pounding on the wall as his teammates stretched their lead wider and wider.

Phelps and Crocker embraced after the medal ceremony, which includes only the four finalists.

"He said congratulations, and I said thank you," Crocker said.

"It just seemed so many emotions were being exchanged through that hug," Phelps said. "It was very exciting. I felt like I was a part of that race."

E-mail rcohen@dallasnews.com