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Jason Lezak Profile |
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Birth Date: November 12, 1975
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Birth Place: Irvine, California, USA
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Birth Name: Jason Edward Lezak
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Height: 6'4"
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Biography |
Jason Edward Lezak is an American swimmer. Lezak, pronounced
Leh-Zhock(short e), means lounge/lawn chair in Polish,
indicating the Polish heritage on his father's side of
family.
He is a member of the amazing and outstanding Rose Bowl
Aquatics swim club. The head coach, Jeff Julian, is a
long-time childhood friend. 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 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 as an American record
in the 400m short-course medley relay. He is sponsored by
Nike and Rose Bowl Aquatics.
Lezak's first long-course international swimming gold medal
was in 2003, when he was part of the 4×100 m medley relay
that set a new world record. He also won a silver medal in
the 4×100 m freestyle relay. 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, 3 times in the 50 m freestyle and 4 in the
100 m freestyle.
He competed in several events at the 2004 Olympic Games, and
was a member of the 4x100 metre 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 eighth in the 50 m
freestyle single race.
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 meter
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. The win
was crucial to Michael Phelps, as without it he would not
have had a chance to better Mark Spitz's record-setting 7
golds at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Lezak tied for bronze
with Brazilian swimmer César Cielo in the 100 m freestyle
with a time of 47.67. |
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Other Information |
World-record holder in the 4x100 medley relay.
Won a gold medal in the 4x100 medley relay and a bronze in
the 4x100 free relay at the Athens Olympics.
American record holder in the 100-meter freestyle (48.17).
Won a gold (4x100 medley relay) and a silver medal (4x100
free relay) at the Sydney Olympics.
Graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in
Business/Economics
Inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
in 2006. |
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since August 25, 2008