A Handy Distance Between Gold and Silver

The French swimmers had promised to "smash" the Americans in the 4 × 100-m freestyle relay, but the U.S. men took the gold with a last-millisecond comeback by anchor Jason Lezak. The team--Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Lezak--smashed the world record by nearly 4 seconds. How it unfolded:

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Leg 1

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