France Win Gold In 4x100m Freestyle Relay Final | London 2012 Olympics

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In an extremely close finish to the 4x100m men's freestyle France comeback to take the gold medal just ahead of USA and Russia.
The event took place at the London aquatics centre, 24 July and saw American Michael Phelps claim one of his 22 Olympic medals.
Swimming has featured on the programme of all editions of the Games since 1896. The very first Olympic events were freestyle (crawl) or breaststroke. Backstroke was added in 1904.
In the 1940s, breaststrokers discovered that they could go faster by bringing both arms forward over their heads. This practice was immediately forbidden in breaststroke, but gave birth to butterfly, whose first official appearance was at the 1956 Games in Melbourne. This style is now one of the four strokes used in competition.
Women's swimming became Olympic in 1912 at the Stockholm Games. Since then, it has been part of every edition of the Games. The men's and women's programmes are almost identical, as they contain the same number of events, with only one difference: the freestyle distance is 800 metres for women and 1,500 metres for men.
Find more about Swimming at www.olympic.org/swimming
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[@matteolegall7243]

As a French guy, this is one of the most emotional moments of my life

[@zanggytamere1467]

jai des frissons chaque fois que je le regarde, quel finish de Yannick, toute les équipes ont mis leur meilleur nageur en premier mais nous ont a gardé le meilleur pour la fin!

[@siddharthgarg7086]

Je ne suis pas français. I m not french but I am learning it in my school 8th grade. I am from India❤❤. J'aime France.

[@miekeeerkens1001]

I can imagine. I'm American, and the moment with Lezak in 2008 was emotional for me. I still watch it when I want to feel inspired and think something is impossible. It was the most incredible upset I have ever seen. But the French team was so sad. It's kind of nice to see how happy this win made them, even though they aren't my team. This time it was their turn. Amazing athletes!

[@michaelcorleone244]

On en chiale encore tellement c'était beau.. malheureusement Agnel a cassé le mythe

[@Pemmanuel.Pacron]

Le pain aquatique Signé pemmanuel

[@timeprogrammer5623]

Official times: Nathan Adrian (47.89) Michael Phelps (47.15) Cullen Jones (47.60) Ryan Lochte (47.74) Amaury Leveaux (48.13) Fabien Gilot (47.67) Clément Lefert (47.39) Yannick Agnel (46.74)

[@rafael-sx5go]

Phelps delivered, but Agnel was just perfect.

[@peaces4me]

46.74? That's faster than the world record!

[@sylvainguinepain7203]

It's a relay! They can anticipate the start and therefore have a slight advantage. This is why only the first leg of a relay gets an official time in case of an individual record. They mention at the beginning of the video that Magnussen swims the first leg of the Australian relay and therefore gets an official time.

[@AmauryHop]

Amaury Leveaux yeah!

[@leogeo9218]

If anyone was slow, it was Adrian. His winning time in the 100 was a lot faster

[@amersayyed-fassadalhoussai2823]

Phelps' last turn looks very amazing to watch. He's a beast underwater!

[@amersayyed-fassadalhoussai2823]

@M D he the baltimore bullet

[@notta3d]

@M D Give credit where it's due hater. All these guys deserve respect.

[@rodolphemodeste4403]

The last line at 6:24 of Yannick Agnel is probably one of the greatest moment of the french sport

[@HoustonflightSimmer]

I think Lezak's was better

[@vincentpreinte3382]

Can't stop thinking about Agnel's career without his burnout

[@sarkaprokopova7726]

There are interviews with him but mostly all in French. Why exactly did he retire at only 24 and when? He still swam at the World Championships in 2013 but he didn't give such a great performance in the relay there at all...

[@joseochoa4152]

one the best olympic finals ever... nice job France

[@krtmddhs]

that underwater swim @ 4:50 is just amazing

[@dakshsinghal5814]

He has gills

[@billalben1106]

@@dakshsinghal5814 😂💪

[@crabkilla]

Phelps is just a straight-up savage animal!

[@crabkilla]

@Yong Geun Song Same reason Usain Bolt doesn't run the 1000m race. Play where you can win.

[@michaelrose8268]

Yonggeun he already has so many events plus it's right before the 2 Im so he'd have no rest

[@dimadeloseros1]

don't blame lochte, his split was ok. It is Agnel that split 46.7 was amazing, if he would have done that time in the 100 free he would have placed first with a world record and more than half of body lenght ahead of Adrian

[@MagnusMas]

The last French is crazy

[@clairau]

No, just incredibly gifted. And efficient.

[@verward]

@B Babbich the 2008 world record was swam with those speedo supersuits. To me agnels split was just as great as lezak's.

[@Alexander-xl3zj]

@B Babbich bias? he's stating the facts lol. they just did not swam with those speedo supersuits but along with some juice hahahaha

[@victorolariamartinez3747]

what a frog he is hey?

[@yesmk000]

@B Babbich the french beat them and tou cant change anything about that, they were better.

[@structuralengineering3406]

RIVALRY OF US VS. FRANCE AT 4x100m IS LEGENDARY. KEEP IT UP.

[@lilimaniac]

Got goosebumps all the time !! Even more than 2 years later !! GO FRANCE !!

[@banlumchannel6388]

But they didn't beat lezak 😂😂fu of tears during 2008 LMAO

[@aculturedspecimen]

7:13 here’s the Gilot “wOOOOOOO” button

[@marshallhelmsMW3]

look at the guy from Belgium at 8:17 he is thinking dang that's fast.

[@vieillardgilles]

Le seum belges !!!

[@eriiick09]

There are no words to describe how proud i am of the French team! VIVE LA FRANCE!!!

[@PrivacyKingdoms]

agnel's got a beautiful stroke

[@heveslaserableinks4095]

Yannick Agnel was on another level at London 2012. Legend level!

[@TheBobert4000]

That 3rd french swimmer holy... I know Agnel had the fastest split time but without this maniac swimming third leg france may not have won at all

[@rectorragies540]

So true

[@zottffss]

Even though I'm from the United States, I am proud of both France and USA. I did feel bad for France at their loss in 2008, so France must be feeling satisfied here. :)

[@loganoleary6950]

That dolphin kick at 4:49 is incredible.

[@redeagle3321]

Amazing technique !

[@rafaguitar2000]

É um Golfinho...

[@lamiramira1234]

@@rafaguitar2000 yeah that what he say 😐

[@jaksosna]

Agnel's technique is just perfect. If he had Phelps' underwater he would be unbeatable. If I look at Agnel's swimming I am sure that mammals were primarily water creatures:)

[@xerma67]

yeah and now he retired at 24yo... , like laure manaudou , when we have good swimmer they retired early

[@Yourmom-dd3fh]

ils ont besoin de retrouver une vie Seb tu sais, tu imagines bien le temps passé dans l'eau tout au long de leurs jeunes années, très gros sacrifice sur le reste.

[@toivonencresto]

No, is a great swimmer, but his Technique is far from perfection.

[@JudoMoniz]

@@xerma67 As someone who did competitive swimming at a nacional level until i was 20 i must say swimming is very taxing on the mind, spending endless hours looking at the bottom of a pool is tiring. not having any social life, especially because i was still in school it took a toll and i just could not doing it anymore. Waking up at 5.30 to go swim, then classes, then strength training then another session in the pool. Now multiply that by like 10 for someone who is at an elite level from such a young age

[@swimfan752]

lochtes underwaters are actually better than phelps

[@yannickdrmda5295]

France is nowhere to be seen in swimming now (2021), this was really a golden generation.

[@benjamint279]

Manaudou juste get a silver medal so you are wrong 😉

[@lameredelabatte9836]

Sure, it was a golden generation but now, we have a big hole, we will be back in 2024 in Paris

[@0innerself0]

@@benjamint279 One. And we used to get so many.

[@benjaminli3808]

@@benjamint279 France got 6 medals in 2004, 6 in 2008, 7 in 2012 (4 out of 7 of which were golds), 3 in 2016, and 1 in 2020. London was quite the year for France in the Olympics when it came to swimming.

[@sarkaprokopova7726]

Hugely disappointing performance by them in Tokyo. They need to revive the sport and encourage more French into swimming.

[@21O966]

this Frenchteam seem unbeatable again Europe champion 2014 after being olympic champion 2012 ...France have very good swimmers !

[@sahilppanjwani]

Lost in 2016

[@jeanmicheldu13george29]

@@sahilppanjwani and 5 years later, France only had one swimmer across all finals at the championship in Gangwon

[@clairau]

There is some Dutch blood in it. The Dutch are by essence good swimmers (they learn how to swim in any condition at a very early age because water is everywhere in Holland). Florent and Laure Manodou's Mom is Dutch. France's swimming tradition and history started out quite recently, thanks to Laure Manaudou.

[@leoptn9969]

@@clairau Olga Schippers, Manaudou's mom, was a badmindton player... and i don't see dutch blood in this video

[@anesdj4282]

@@sahilppanjwani even the G.O.A.T lost many races in his career, if you look at Agnel in his prime, he was unbeatable, check the 200 free in WC in Barcelona 2013, he dominated the best 200m freestyler from the beginning of the race to the end.

[@FiftyBreaststroke]

Epic anchor leg from Agnel. Huge win for France. Good for the sport. Look forward to the next one.

[@baoluan1288]

Great race for France. It's almost a mirror picture of Beijing 2008; uncanny!

[@pandore70]

Best race ever, congrats to the french (my country) and to the USA. 4x100 in beijing and london was spectacular, thanks for this epic battle !!!

[@user-vm2ix8pj8j]

Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996. Men's Swimming. Individual Gold medals in Men's Swimming. 2 USA Jeff Rouse. Brad Bridgewater. Tom Dolan. only (3) three gold medals. 1. RUS. Alexander Popov. Denis Pankratov. only (4) four gold medals. Men's Swimming. Individual Gold medals in Men's Swimming. Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996 check: USA 🇺🇸 - RUS.🇷🇺. 3 - 4.

[@theHYmaster]

The day I ve literally broke my sofa 😂😂😂 one of my best memory in sport

[@thierryolivier]

"Agnel is coming back!!". Incredible race.

[@Azoonaloc13]

France should be proud, absolutely stunning race.

[@clementreboul5106]

I'm french and i'm very proud of my country :)

[@TheKaiserfaust]

Yes you can

[@BlueHopi144]

yeah , last year was another story in the Pool for France .

[@clementreboul5106]

You're right, but I'm proud anyway

[@BlueHopi144]

Clément Reboul stay Proud , Belgium is proud too to have won the silver in the 100 free with Peter Timmers . Bring on a sprinter of his caliber .....and i will applaud again the french .

[@julienwantz13]

Bluehopi Bridge you seem buthurt

[@alannahhurley386]

2:30 note to mind: if I ever go to the olympics, go to the men's swimming.

[@marwaqoura7804]

Great choice dear ,those guys look hot 😻

[@mikepatton5168]

Epic Race.... Fantastic France!

[@user-jz6pq4zx3e]

Eerily similar to Beijing 4 years earlier. Phelps underwater effort is a thing of beauty.

[@Tiffany-lh2kn]

Stop blaming ryan lochte. France was able to come in clutch with an outstanding time.

[@thomasprice7621]

I was a NCAA D1 swimmer from 81-84 and stacking relays is a black art for the coache................Cullen Jones again.

[@louiscyfer6944]

Tiffany S lochte had no business on a 100 free relay. neither did jones.

[@CoDWiiPS3Gameplay]

@@thomasprice7621 what are you saying? Jones finished 2nd in the trials and split a 47.6 here, faster than Lochte. Are you actually suggesting Cullen *shouldn't* have been on the relay?

[@TheTmat007]

@@thomasprice7621 If you're gonna blame someone, then make sure you have a good reason to do so. Jones split was the 4th fastest here...faster than that of Adrian and Lochte amongst others.

[@michaelrose2529]

Yes but at the same time Lochte went a 47.74 as the ANCHOR which is horrible

[@moniquelopez3478]

Clement the 3rd french swimmer was absolutely awesome!!!!!

[@0innerself0]

He let the american go on the first 50, to then clear the gap. Well done indeed. Then Agnel... its was over. Noone could challenge him at this time. I'm nearly mad at him for the choices he made after that.

[@rcmanization]

agnel was in the form of his life in 2012. 4 years later, and he is not even one of the two best frenchmen. but in 2012 - he was untouchable.

[@xtaxie7108]

4 years later, Michael Phelps still has what it takes and collect more gold medals. Already the most decorated Olympian of all time.....

[@ryancrouch5139]

The fly kick off Phelps turn tho !!!

[@92carlo75]

france did it again !!

[@sarkaprokopova7726]

What a phenomenal race even to this day. Can't stop watching. By far my favourite race in any Olympic Games. Agnel - beyond unbelievable last 50m.

[@AC-fg9wc]

AGNEL is very strong!!!

[@palacky1040]

What is the most amazing is that Agnel swam exactly the same time as Bernard did in 2008. In 2012 Agnel came back on the American Lochte, in 2008 the American Lezak came on Bernard !! Bernard swam very well in 2008 but he was unlucky to swim against an E.T. that day ! Anyway it was a sweet "revenge" for the French team.

[@JackoJim123]

Flawless commentary by Bruce McAvaney as always. Fantastic. Absolutely leaves Hadley for dead.

[@mayennais75]

So much thrills for a French !!!! That's one of the most incredible sport events I've seen. What a moment for us !!!

[@etienneturpin7474]

France got their revenge after 2008

[@Joannemar]

What a race it was... I think I'll remember it forever. :) Well done, France! And I'm sure this is not the last we've seen of Agnel. :)

[@im2beastm861]

This aged well

[@sergesedov1647]

France - Fantastica !!!

[@RosalezJohn]

NOT TODAY BUDDY!

[@adele1699]

+John Rosalez so what?

[@drtkbhjubynij304]

France is king of relay 4x100m

[@curtis6129]

Vive la France

[@jean-mariepierre2629]

Incroyable relais, Magnifique finish,

[@saxosaxo8851]

Merci pour le fair play des commentateurs.

[@RichardBonBon1]

watched this about 10 times still get chills

[@claraaitken9985]

So proud of France!

[@MrBillyBrands]

Phelps' turn at 4:50 is incredible.

[@azamatbaatai435]

If anyone noticed that fights for gold and bronze were absolutely same... Brilliant race from France and Russia!!!

[@franciscomedina4949]

4:50 WOW... Amazing

[@safehaven11]

Agnel is amazing! What a talented guy!

[@LaGucciVida]

Lezak's 46.06 still untouchable from 2008.

[@michaelwu2541]

miraculous

[@sylvainguinepain7203]

Well he has a magic suit if I remember well. That make is about the same as Agnel's time in this race.

[@haurlihai34]

his jumping style is still my all time favourite

[@younesschbika2560]

+Icanliketobewearing lxufs

[@Yourmom-dd3fh]

nice rage

[@mericaketumbarjahe4849]

Nathan Adrian should be the ANCHOR...

[@elisannem5685]

On a beau connaitre l'issu, on a toujours le coeur qui bat à chaque visionnage, quel bonheur ce jour-là...

[@senad6912]

Virada espetacular da França!!!!!

[@louise3801]

Vive la natation française!les meilleurs!tu nous manque deja camille repose en paix mon ange

[@MrDanghnam]

Louise c close w mentioned-Back if it's kinda gives.

[@gh7715373]

Louise 吃魚嗎哦哦提高哦改啊8,@:@::@":8:8/"

[@gh7715373]

˙

[@fegasd]

Agnel... race of a lifetime. He will be remembered for all times just for this race.

[@lexsoft3969]

He won gold in men's 200m freestyle too, beating Park Tae Hwan, Sun Yang, the same Ryan Lochte and Paul Biedermann (the world record holder). He beat them all by more than 1 body length. His record has been the fastest in textile suit until now.

[@octane7774]

Yo watching this vid like 3 years late, I started screaming in excitement when phelps started his streamline, such beautiful and magestic camera work.

[@magicosports6495]

i have 11 years from Egypt i like peaty and Cameron van der Burgh and michael phelps

[@thegamergirl8785]

Im french and i love how we are a strong team.😀

[@michealmoore8135]

C'est la classe!!....vive la France

[@patriciatownsend5465]

Love this race hate we loss, goose bump for real

[@vincentc3475]

BEJIN: USA - FranceLONDON : France - USACan't wait the next 4x100 in RIO !!!

[@0innerself0]

+Vincent C I fear our french team won't be very performant :/

[@alexandershakib2790]

+Vincent C I reckon the Australian team is going to have a brilliant team in Rio

[@twilighties]

USA just won gold @ Rio today (7 August 2016)

[@Dra5tixX]

Again USA-France lol

[@drtkbhjubynij304]

the french team is performant but Fabian Gilot won't be very performant

[@andriabrown1723]

Brilliant swim by the French

[@lalotaty]

Vamos...........Agnel, eres grande !

[@rubenscunha4986]

Agniel recovered exactly 1 second in the last 100m.

[@ErickMaciasJuarez]

You live by the clutch comeback, you die by the clutch comeback. Lochte got smoked there

[@snowpants2212]

I agree that the other Frenchmen did great. I'm just saying that Agnel swam much faster than anyone could have expected. If you had told the U.S. coaches beforehand that Lochte would dive in with that lead and then go 47.7, they would've been thrilled with how their lineup worked out.

[@Jarrod323]

Love that we have to Aussie commentary on the official Olympic Channel!

[@mynameisred0076]

I love the two commentetors

[@mathna3933]

Vive la France !!! :D

[@lele28500]

What a race, what a swimm, what a back !!

[@mohanishmedar5332]

Phelps is brilliant underwater that is the key to his success in 100m freestyle

[@TheTrueAegnor]

That was one big sport moment for me... Amazing!!!

[@NenitaTransex]

AMAZING AGNEL!!!!!!!!!!, =))

[@zgeninaway]

Best revenge ever..

[@martinsalvador885]

So true

[@NoName-oq8qu]

B Babbich irrelevant but ok

[@yesmk000]

@B Babbich nah this race was waaayy better then the one in 2008, we had a pre-story in this one which made it mkre epic

[@XDF745]

@B Babbich Nah when you consider the suits that 2008 race is way less impressive.

[@obamagaming6642]

@B Babbich Can't hear you from the breaststroke events, could you please repeat?

[@dantecap1462]

I saw Agnel at the Philippine Airport man he had a huge back really impressive when up close and personal with them and got his autograph once in a life time exp! go France! always nice to see new champs :)

[@stevenpongruen6272]

I just found the result of swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay on wikipedia that shows the results of Yannick Agnel who helped France get the gold medal over USA it shows that trailing behind by 0.55 seconds at the final exchange, Agnel blistered the field with a remarkable split of 46.74 to deliver the foursome a gold-medal time in 3:09.93 which means Agnel was swim faster than the 100 metre freestyle champion even faster than the 100 meter freestyle world record (46.91)

[@heinrichpreussen]

With a relay start

[@amritaanand4902]

3:26 is the time when the race is actually about to start

[@Kunay728]

qui reviens après le 4x100 de tokyo ?😹

[@elisannem5685]

obligé, ça remonte le moral là, toujours aussi bon de revoir cette vidéo

[@jean-qz5gr]

it 's the reward of good works that have been done before

[@deatlovezeus4878]

les françaıs sont les meilleurs!

[@mrinmoynegel1036]

France had a team , USA had individuals.

[@tmat04]

France avenged their loss in similar fashion as they were beaten by the US in Beijing. Le Clos also won against Phelps in much the same way Phelps won against Cavic. Amazing!

[@swimfan752]

Yeah you couldn’t script it any better.

[@101dkokomaster]

je ne peut jamais oublier ca!! agnel on t'adore

[@Mardyfella]

That was great. Allez France!

[@andrevallini4254]

VIVE LA FRANCE

[@1994firas]

Best race in Londons olympics!

[@fangyuchang227]

Angel is the miracle, the best powerful swimmer

[@zisssssou]

What a race it was. I guess the trio Usa-Australia-France will again be a great battle during Rio Olympics. Can't wait for it, may the best win.

[@UJJWALCSE-in1tf]

it was amazing swim by france

[@sahandbagheri6641]

4:49 OMG, what a remarkable streamline

[@luanhoangvo]

Personal split : Adrian : 47.89 Phelps: 47.15 Jones: 47.60 Agnel : 46.74 Lochte : 47.74

[@hodenbacke55555]

These emotions ❤️

[@christianotsuma1987]

Good race...Agnel was awesome! Phelps should have anchored.....his sheer determination would have pushed him to a likely win....Lochte tends to die off at the end......If his finishes were proper he would have been bagging even more medals...

[@KING-cx7nj]

They beated americans THE SAME WAY THAT THEY BEATED FRANCE😭

[@sallygoozee8422]

What a switch from last go around!!

[@pgatovcranbrook2033]

Such a competitive such a pleasant tour of journeys of 50metre pool.. congrats France