Two Down, Eight to Go

UPDATE: The thrill of victory, and the agony of d'French.

Michael Phelps drive for eight gold medals continues on track, thanks to the efforts of the anchor leg swimmer in the 400 meter relay:

BEIJING (AP) -- Jason Lezak outtouched Alain Bernard of France at the wall Monday to give the United States a victory in the 400-meter freestyle relay and keep alive Michael Phelps' bid for eight Olympic gold medals.

Lezak overtook the Frenchman to win in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds, breaking the world record of 3:12.23 set by the Americans in Sunday's preliminaries.

France took the silver in 3:08.32. Australia earned the bronze in 3:09.91.

Phelps' hopes of breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in a single games appeared doomed when the French took over the lead at the 250 mark. They were 4.03 seconds under world-record pace at 350 meters before Lezak, the oldest American male swimmer at 32, rallied over the closing strokes.

Lezak's an Orange County kid. Nice job.

I believe Phelps is just one medal away now from being the most decorated American Olympian in history.