| In the 2008 Beijing 4x100m freestyle relay, Michael Phelps led off. He did NOT put the US in the lead. In fact, the US was in second by the end of his leg of the race. This left some ground for the rest of the team to make up.
By the anchor leg (last swimmer in the relay), the US was still not in the lead. France was winning and had a superstar swimmer set to close out the victory.
Nevertheless, the 32 year-old Lezak, was determined. He swam the FASTEST ever recorded 100m freestyle relay split at the time (46.06 seconds) to win the race and the gold for the US.
The moral of the story is this:
No individual achievement is ever accomplished individually.
Michael’s mother took him to and from swim practice both before and after school everyday for years. Michael’s coach, Bob, was equally insane and supportive and was always there.
It’s not always just the person who gets the primary recognition, it’s the complete team effort, that make the impossible dreams become reality. |
