For the swim world, the amazing men's 4 X 100 relay final earlier Sunday in Beijing may go down as being the equivalent of the Miracle On Ice hockey game in 1980 against the Russians.

The build-up to this race helped to make it extra special for the American swimmers. The very fast French team was heavily favored and tried to psych out the American team in print by stating they were going to "smash" the Americans.  But a funny thing happened to the U.S. underdogs.  They swam the race of their lives, with the only thing smashed being the previous world record. 

Michael Phelps has arguably the two hardest gold medals in his possession in his quest for eight in this year's Games, and he has clearly demonstrated that he is the greatest overall swimmer of our era, and perhaps ever.  But the hero of the race was anchorman Jason Lezak, who closed a gap of over half a second behind the French in his last 50 meters, and was able to pass Alain Bernard, he of 'smashing Americans' fame, and touched by a fraction to claim the gold. 

Congratulations to Phelps and Lezak, along with fellow team members Garrett Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones, on making another magical moment for the United States in Olympic history.