Eight-time Olympic medal winner Jason Lezak will conduct a stroke clinic May 5 at the Marcus Jewish Community Center that will focus on in-water drills. He will also share his thoughts on his Olympic journey, and the challenges he overcame to reach his dream to compete at the highest level.
The three-hour clinic, which is open to swimmers ages 11 and up, will include drills focused on freestyle, backstroke, and starts and turns at the MJCCA’s indoor pool. Along with the drills, Lezak will share his story and pose for pictures with his gold medals.
Lezak, 48, competed in four Olympic Games, in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, and won eight Olympic medals – two bronze, two silver, and four gold. He said his favorite memory was in 2004, when he set the American record in the 100 freestyle, breaking veteran freestyler Matt Biondi’s time.
Millions remember him, however, for the event dubbed “the greatest relay in Olympic history” in the 2008 Bejing games, when Lezak, anchoring the 4×100 freestyle relay, came back from a body’s length deficit to overtake Franc’s Alain Bernard in the last 50 meters for the coveted gold medal. At the time, he was the oldest male on the U.S. team.
According to Wikipedia, the American team’s final time of 3:08:24 was just 0.08 seconds ahead of the French team’s 3:08.32, making it the closest finish in the event’s history. Both teams finished nearly four seconds ahead of the previous world record.
Lezak said his first Olympics, held in Sydney, was his personal favorite as it was an opportunity to immerse himself into the community and see firsthand a variety of sports.
In the 2012 games in London, Lezak became the first male swimmer in Olympic history to win four medals in the same event, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
California-born and bred, Lezak said he learned how to swim in his backyard pool, like many of his competitors, but one event – when his parents took him to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles – sparked his desire to perform at the highest level.
“I played a lot of sports as a kid – basketball, swimming, and water polo – but as time went on, I had to drop them to concentrate on swimming at a higher level,” he said. “I also went to USC-Santa Barbara, which was then the No. 1 party school in the nation.”
He recalled the sacrifices he had to make to achieve elite status, including not being able to hang out with non-swimming friends and giving up the other sports he enjoyed.
“As tempting as it was, you have to do the right thing when you are swimming, which is one of the most demanding sports,” Lezak said. “The best decision I made was hanging out with other swimmers because we all had the same schedule and the same priorities.”
During the clinic, Lezak said he will spend about 45 minutes meeting and talking to attendees, followed by in-pool drills. He said the message he wants to convey to the swimmers is not about achieving success, but what lessons are learned from failure.
“It’s okay to have setbacks,” he said. “My question is, ‘what are you going to do when that happens.’”
For information about the clinic and to register, visit the MJCCA’s website.