Completely unexpected!

The U.S. not only won the 4 x 100 free relay, but Ryan was a huge part of the winning effort. His split was 47.03, his best 100 free time ever by more than a second. I'm really happy that not only was he part of this relay for the first time, but the result was a gold medal....a completely unexpected gold medal. I only hope the rest of the meet goes this well for Ryan.

The splits for the US team were as follows:

PHELPS Michael 0.72 22.93 47.78 (3) 47.78
LOCHTE Ryan 0.10 22.30 47.03 (3) 1:34.81
GREVERS Mattew 0.22 22.28 47.61 (2) 2:22.42
ADRIAN Nathan 0.25 22.23 46.79 (1) 3:09.21

Here's a link to the Universal Sports video of a portion of the race....Michael Phelps' lead-off leg and the finish. Ryan swam second so you can see him diving in right after Phelps finished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX1PiChUJkM

Here are two videos of Ryan speaking at the press conference after the race. I still can't believe he raced the great Alain Bernard and did so well. Bernard's split was 46.46, the fastest time out of every swimmer, but Ryan held his own against him.





Finally, Ryan comments on FINA's decision to ban technology suits starting in 2010.



Thanks so much to Reezy Daily for uploading the videos.

Ryan does not swim again until Wednesday. His schedule for the rest of the meet is:

Wednesday, July 29
200m IM
prelims and semi-finals

Thursday, July 30
200m Back
prelims and semi-finals
200m IM
finals

Friday, July 31
4 x 200m Free Relay
prelims and finals
200m Back
finals

Sunday, August 2
400m IM
prelims and finals