The 10 greatest Olympic swimming moments of the decade

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November 24, 2009

With the decade winding down, Fourth-Place Medal will look at some of the greatest Olympic moments of the past 10 years. Today, the top 10 swimming moments of the 2000s. (It’s a list dominated by Americans and Australians (one in particular), mainly because it’s a sport dominated by Americans and Australians.)

10. Amanda Beard gets her gold — After a silver in Atlanta and a bronze in Athens, Amanda Beard needed a gold in Athens to complete the trifecta. Her competition: former world record holder Leisel Jones, whose record Beard had lowered just weeks earlier. Jones shot out to an early lead but, much like in the 100 breast in 2000, the Australian weakened down the stretch as an American topped the medal stand.

9. Bernard’s revenge — Days after choking away the 4×100 freestyle relay, France’s Alain Bernard got his gold in the individual 100 free, besting world record holder Eamonn Sullivan (who took the mark away from Bernard earlier in the meet) and his relay nemesis, Jason Lezak.

8. Eric the Eel — As David Wallechinsky recounts in his essential tome "The Complete Book of the Olympics", the IOC encouraged countries to enter swimmers in events, even if they didn’t have a qualifying time. Equatorial Guinea took advantage, holding a trial in a 20-meter hotel pool. It was won by 22-year old Eric Moussambani, who competed in the 100-meter freestyle despite never having swam in the distance in his life. He finished 50 seconds behind the next slowest competitor, but became an overnight sensation in the process.

7. Ervin, Hall tie in 50 free — In a race that saw Aleksandr Popov going for his third straight Olympic gold and Pieter van den Hoogenband trying to win the sprint triple, two Americans stole the show down
under. Gary Hall Jr. and Anthony Ervin both touched in 21.98 in the 50
free at the Syndey Olympics, becoming the first men ever to share
swimming gold in the Olympics.

6. Thorpe avenges 200 free loss, wins "fastest race ever" – In Athens in 2004 Pieter van den Hoogenband, Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Michael Phelps competed in what was known as the fastest race of all-time. The four were the four quickest ever to swim the 200 free (back before suits made such distinctions obsolete) and the race was the most anticipated of those Olympics. Avenging his loss in front of the home fans in Sydney, Thorpe stormed back for a victory.

5. Coughlin v. Coventry — The two best female swimmers in Athens happened to compete in the same event, the 100 backstroke. After a disappointing 2000 (in which she failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team), Natalie Coughlin held off Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry in the final 15 meters for gold.

4. Phelps bests Spitz — It was the single greatest achievement in Olympic history, but the ending was anti-climatic. Short of disqualification, there was no way the American relay team was going to lose the 4×100 medley on the final night of the swimming competition in Beijing. They didn’t and Phelps became the most prolific champion of all-time.

3. On home turf, Aussies upset Americans – The U.S. men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team was seven-for-seven in Olympic competition before running into a keyed-up Australian squad on the opening night of the 2000 Olympics. Spurred on by a rabid crowd in Sydney, Ian Thorpe caught Gary Hall Jr. on the final lap (after being passed on the first 50) to give the Australians a .21 second victory.

2. Phelps wins by .01 seconds — One man stood between Michael Phelps and history: Milorad Cavic. (So did Ian Crocker, but he ended up swimming a poor race.) Phelps had already won six gold medals in Beijing and, as mentioned in moment No. 4, his final race wasn’t supposed to give him much trouble. It all came down to Saturday morning’s 100 butterfly. The early lead was taken by Cavic, an American swimming for Serbia (his parents immigrated shortly before his birth), and it appeared he’d derail Phelps’ Olympic dream when the two approached the wall. But Cavic glided into the wall, while Phelps took what appeared to be a furious, ill-advised half-stroke. Somehow Phelps got to the wall first, beating Cavic by one-hundredth of a second, the closest margin in Olympic swimming history. I still have no clue how he got in there.

1. The comeback: Jason Lezak keeps Phelps’ quest alive — Phelps’ quest for eight was almost over before it began. On the first morning of finals, the French relay team was headed for a gold medal when world record holder Alain Bernard was nearly a full body length ahead of Lezak on the anchor leg of the 4×100 freestyle relay. On NBC, Rowdy Gaines started analyzing the loss. On my couch, I began typing the lede to a blog post about how the Phelps dream was over. Then, all of a sudden, Bernard tightened and Lezak began to catch up, blazing past him in the final five meters to give the U.S. a most improbable of victories. Lezak’s split was the fastest in history. For my money, it was the greatest sports moment I’ve ever seen.

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