Jason Lezak

Jason Lezak

Jason Lezak at the Maccabiah Games 07/2009
Personal information
Full name Jason Edward Lezak
Nationality  United States
Born November 12, 1975 (1975-11-12) (age 36)
Irvine, California, United States
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Stroke(s) Freestyle

Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American Olympic swimmer, winner of 4 Olympic gold medals.

He formerly swam for Irvine Novaquatics. He graduated from Irvine High School in 1994, and then from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1999. He is a member of the Rose Bowl Aquatics swim club. The head coach, Jeff Julian, is a good friend.

He is 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) tall and weighs 93 kg (205 pounds). Lezak is a specialist in the 50 and 100 m freestyle races. He also owns long-course world records in the 400m freestyle and medley relays, as well a former American record holder in the 100 Free. Lezak is one of the few elite swimmers not to have a personal coach. Despite this, Lezak enjoys team sports and fellow American Gary Hall, Jr. dubbed Lezak as a "professional relay swimmer" at the 2004 Olympic Trials before their matchup in the 100m freestyle.[1][2]

Contents

Personal life

Lezak was born in Irvine, California, and is Jewish.[3] The name Lezak, pronounced Leh-Zhack (short e), probably comes from the Polish word root meaning 'to lie, to recline'. Lezak attended El Camino Real Elementary School, which is now known as Woodbury Elementary. Jason currently lives in Irvine, California, his hometown, with his wife, Danielle.

Career

Olympics

Lezak currently has competed in three Olympic Games, in 2000, 2004, and 2008, and has earned a total of seven Olympic medals, three bronze, one silver, and three gold. He hopes to compete in the 2012 Games in London, so long as his finances permit him to continue his training.

2000 Olympics

Lezak earned his first long-course international swimming gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was part of the 4×100 m medley relay in the Olympics in Sydney. He also won a silver medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay.

2004 Olympics

He competed in several events at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and was a member of the 4×100 m medley relay team that set a new world record at the games. He also won a bronze medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay and finished fifth in the 50 m freestyle.

2008 Olympics

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Lezak was the oldest male on the U.S. swim team. He anchored the U.S. 4×100 m freestyle relay team that won the gold medal and set a new world record. In the final 25 meters, Lezak overtook French team anchor Alain Bernard (the world record holder in the 100m freestyle going into the relay) to win gold despite Bernard having nearly a full body length's advantage when Lezak started his leg and half a body length with 25 meters from the end. Lezak split a 46.06, the fastest 100 meter freestyle split in history, by nearly six tenths of a second. Rowdy Gaines commented shortly after the race that "that might be the most incredible relay split I've ever seen in my entire life." The final time of the American team was 3:08:24, which was 3.99 seconds faster than the previous world record. France finished second at 3:08.32, eight hundredths of a second behind—the closest finish in the event's history. The victory came only days after Bernard had issued inflammatory statements, stating that his team would "smash" the United States team in the race. This was a crucial race for Michael Phelps, for he needed it to complete the goal of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games, which would break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.[4]

Lezak also earned his first individual Olympic medal, having tied for the bronze with Brazillian swimmer César Cielo Filho in the 100 m freestyle with a time of 47.67. He anchored the 4×100 meter medley relay to give Team USA the title, which was also Phelps's record-setting eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games.

Following the 2008 Olympic Games, Lezak appeared as a guest on The Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien,[5] and ESPN's Jim Rome is Burning.

Short Course Competitions

In short-course competitions he won five world championships, four relays plus a gold in the 100 m freestyle in 2004. Lezak has also won 7 US Championships, three times in the 50 m freestyle and four in the 100 m freestyle.

2009

Lezak forwent the 2009 World Aquatics Championships to compete in the 18th Maccabiah Games in Israel from July 12–29.[6] Lezak was given the honor of lighting the Maccabiah torch at the Opening Ceremony.[7] At the Maccabiah Games, Lezak won gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4×100m freestyle relay, and 4×100m medley relay.[8]

Future competition

Lezak hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games, if his finances permit him to continue training. His endorsement contract with Nike expired and was not renewed after the sportswear company decided to pull out of the competitive swimming market. Despite Lezak's Olympic successes, he says he does not expect to get any more sponsorships.[9][10] But he has recently entered a sponsorship deal with swimming company FINIS.[11]

Personal bests

His personal bests (long-course) are:

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Dillman, Lisa (August 12, 2008). "A team player who rises to the challenge". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olylezak12-2008aug12,0,6313222.story. 
  3. ^ "Sports Shorts". Jewish Sports Review 8 (87): 18. September/October 2011, accessed September 16, 2011. 
  4. ^ Francois Thomazeau (August 7, 2008). "I'm favorite and we'll smash U.S.: Bernard". Reuters. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080807/sp_nm/olympics_swimming_bernard_dc. Retrieved August 11, 2008. 
  5. ^ "IMBd: Jason Lezak". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1775475/. Retrieved April 28, 2009. 
  6. ^ "Lezak partners with Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel". http://usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=2440&mid=2943. 
  7. ^ "Lezak lights torch at Maccabiah opening". July 13, 2009. http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/13/1006476/maccabiah-opening-ceremony-set. 
  8. ^ "Javanifard, Lezak make splash at Maccabiah Games". July 24, 2009. http://presidiosports.com/2009/07/javanifard-lezak-make-splash-at-maccabiah-games/. 
  9. ^ "Where's the love for swimmer Jason Lezak?". http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lezak-olympic-swimming-2348784-athletes-deal. Retrieved April 28, 2009. 
  10. ^ "Jason Lezak: America’s Unemployed Olympic Hero". http://www.newsweek.com/id/189296/page/1. Retrieved April 28, 2009. 
  11. ^ "FINIS Announces Official Sponsorship of Jason Lezak, Gold Medal Olympian". FINIS. December 20, 2010. http://blog.finisinc.com/events/finis-announces-official-sponsorship-of-jason-lezak-gold-medal-olympian. Retrieved March 17, 2011. 

External links

Men's team

Pat Calhoun • Chad Carvin • Ian Crocker • Josh Davis • Tom Dolan • Nate Dusing • Anthony Ervin • Scott Goldblatt • Gary Hall, Jr. • Tommy Hannan • Klete Keller • Lenny Krayzelburg • Jason Lezak • Tom Malchow • Ed Moses • Aaron Peirsol • Michael Phelps • Jamie Rauch • Kyle Salyards • Chris Thompson • Scott Tucker • Erik Vendt • Neil Walker • Tom Wilkens
Women's team
Coaches

Peter Banks • Jack Bauerle • David Marsh • Richard Quick (women's head coach) • Eddie Reese • Dave Salo • Mark Schubert (men's head coach) • Jon Urbanchek
Men's Team

Ian Crocker • Nate Dusing • Mark Gangloff • Scott Goldblatt • Gary Hall, Jr. • Brendan Hansen • Bryce Hunt • Larsen Jensen • Klete Keller • Dan Ketchum • Lenny Krayzelburg • Jason Lezak • Ryan Lochte • Tom Malchow • Aaron Peirsol • Michael Phelps • Scott Usher • Peter Vanderkaay • Erik Vendt • Neil Walker • Gabe Woodward
Women's Team
Coaches

Bob Bowman • Frank Busch • Teri McKeever • Richard Quick • Eddie Reese (Men's Head Coach) • Dave Salo • Mark Schubert (Women's Head Coach) • Jon Urbanchek
Men's Team
Women's Team
Coaches

Jack Bauerle (Women's Head Coach) • Ray Benecki • Bob Bowman • Frank Busch • Sean Hutchison • Teri McKeever • Eddie Reese (Men's Head Coach) • Mark Schubert (National Team Head Coach) • Gregg Troy • Jon Urbanchek • Paul Yetter