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Phelps: Record bid still on
"The last 10 to 15 metres were incredible. I lost my voice, and I was definitely pretty emotional after that."
Michael Phelps
Men's 4x100m Results:
Gold: United States 3:08.24 (WR)
Silver: France 3:08.32
Bronze: Australia 3:09.91
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Michael Phelps' bid for a record eight gold medals stayed alive thanks to a team-mate's fingertip on Monday.
Phelps had to rely on his USA team-mates to win his second gold of the 2008 Games, as he was competing in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
And his hopes of breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven golds, set in 1972, looked over at the final turn as France led by some distance.
However, a superb final leg from Jason Lezak retrieved the situation in the final few metres. He touched first by a fingertip to spark wild celebrations from Phelps on the poolside.
Record
The Americans won in a time of 3mins 08.24secs - a new world record - just 0.08secs ahead of the French quartet with Australia third.
"Unbelievable! Jason finished that race way better than we could have even asked for," Phelps said.
"For that last 50, I was thinking 'this is going to be one close race'.
"The last 10 to 15 metres were incredible. I lost my voice, and I was definitely pretty emotional after that.
"I was going nuts. As soon as (Lezak) came off that last wall, I started going crazy. We're a team.
"We went in as a team and now we're exiting as a team - and we're going out with that gold that we needed to get back."
Britain's quartet of Simon Burnett, Adam Brown, Benjamin Hockin and Ross Davenport finished eighth but smashed the existing British record, setting a new mark of 3:12.87.
Phelps later advanced to the semi-finals of the 200m butterfly, winning his preliminary heat in a time of 1:53.70s and lowering his own Olympic record.
