Former UCSB Swimmer Jason Lezak Earns Silver Medal

7/29/2012

Former UC Santa Barbara swimmer Jason Lezak collected a silver medal as a member of the 4X100 free relay team that finished second to France at the 2012 London Olympics. The French quartet avenged its defeat to the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Lezak, competing in his fourth Olympics, helped Team USA advance to the finals after swimming the anchor leg of the 4X100 qualifying relay team that included James Feigen, Matt Grevers and Ricky Berens. The foursome posted a second-best time of 3:12.59 to advance to the finals where Nathan Adrian, Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones and Ryan Lochte joined forces to post a second place time of 3:10.38, which trailed gold-medal winning France by nearly half a second.

Four years ago in Beijing, Lezak swam a clutch anchor leg of the 4x100 free relay final to deliver the gold medal to the United States in what some called the greatest relay race in Olympic history.

Entering the pool with his club in second place, the former Gaucho eventually caught Frenchman Alain Bernard with one final lunge at the wall. Lezak was nearly a full body length behind the Frenchman at the final turn, but hugged the lane rope and overtook him to win by a fingertip.

Lezak, who graduted from UC Santa Barbara in 1999, was a two-time Big West Swimmer of the Year and owns the Big West overall record in the 50 free (19.67) and the conference Championship record in the 100 free (43.68).