Would Michael Phelps’s bid for eight gold medals in the Beijing Games dissolve in a pool at the Water Cube on Monday? The answer was a resounding No. Not over Jason Lezak’s 32-year-old body.

Lezak, swimming the anchor leg of the United States’ 4x100-metre freestyle relay, hit the water a half-second after Alain Bernard of France, who came into the race as the world-record holder in the 100-metre freestyle.

“I knew I was going to have to swim out of my mind,” Lezak said, adding: “I had more adrenaline going than I’ve ever had in my life.”

Dragging off Bernard, who was hugging the lane line that separated them, Lezak made up ground, but with 25 metres remaining it appeared as if he would run out of pool. Trailing Bernard by half a body length, Lezak put his head down and surged to the wall.

When the water settled, the giant scoreboard showed that Lezak had out-touched Bernard by 0.08 of a second. Phelps’s pursuit of Mark Spitz’s record of seven swimming gold medals in one Olympics remained alive with a little help from his mates. Lezak’s split of 46.06 seconds was the fastest anchor leg ever, by 0.73, and his personal best by over 1.2 seconds.

“His last 50 metres were absolutely incredible,” Phelps said.

After Lezak touched, Phelps, who swam the first leg, raised his arms and let out a primal scream. Garrett Weber-Gale, who swam second, came up from behind him and swallowed him in a hug.

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