Marc has been learning about the Olympics for a few weeks now in pre-school. He insisted on watching the Opening Ceremonies and I've been recording events that I thought he'd enjoy.

Swimming happens to be one of my favorite events and my secret agenda is for Marc to enjoy the swimming and realize that it's not so scary. (He loves playing in the kiddy pool but is afraid of putting his head underwater.)

The swimming events have been *amazing*. I couldn't find video of yesterday's Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay to put here (due to copyright issues), but it was one of the most exciting races I've ever seen. I've been watching Michael Phelps because of his medal race with Mark Spitz and because he's an amazing swimmer, but Jason Lezak's win was simply amazing.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Lezak was the oldest male on the U.S. swim team. He anchored the U.S. 4×100 meter freestyle relay team that won the gold medal and set a new world record. In the final 25 meters, Lezak overtook French anchor-swimmer Alain Bernard, the world record holder in the 100m freestyle going into the relay, to win gold. Lezak split a 46.06, the fastest 100 meter freestyle split in history, by nearly six tenths of a second. Rowdy Gaines commented shortly after the race that "that might be the most incredible relay split I've ever seen in my entire life." The final time of the American team was 3:08:24, nearly four full seconds faster than the previous world record. France finished second at 3:08.32, eight hundredths of a second behind - the closest finish in the event's history. The victory came only days after Bernard had issued inflammatory statements, stating that his team would "smash" the United States team in the race.