00:00No country had ever beaten the US in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, but when the Olympics
00:05came down under to Sydney in 2000, Australia had somehow got it into their heads that they
00:11actually had a chance at winning the event. Of course, the Australian relay team in 2000
00:16was the strongest it had ever been, and they had even beat the US team at the Pan Pacific
00:21Championships a year earlier, although that particular US team was missing one of their
00:26star swimmers, Gary Hall Jr. So when the Australian media talked to Gary Hall after Australia's
00:31win and asked him whether he thought Australia had any chance of beating his dominant US team
00:37at the Olympics, he certainly didn't pull any punches, telling them that the American
00:41team would smash the Australians like guitars. The following day, that quote was on the front
00:46page of every newspaper in Australia. Gary's arrogance had rubbed a lot of Australians the
00:51wrong way. And so, as the Sydney 2000 Olympics kicked off and the 4x100 freestyle relay approached,
00:58all eyes were on the Australian team to make Gary Hall Jr. eat his words.
01:03And as the starting beep sounded and Michael Klim from Australia swam the first leg, that's
01:08when the Americans started getting nervous. Michael surged ahead of all the other swimmers
01:12and as he made it back to the blocks, he'd swam the first leg so fast that he'd broken the
01:17existing 100m freestyle world record. The Australian crowd roared, but as the race continued, the US
01:24gradually caught up, eating into Australia's lead. And as the Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe prepared for
01:29the final leg against Gary Hall Jr., he knew Australia was in trouble. Ian was fast, but he was
01:35better over longer distances. The 200 and 400m freestyle were his domain. Gary, on the other hand,
01:41was dominant in the shorter 50 and 100m freestyle. But Ian figured he might be able to keep Gary off
01:46his
01:47tail if he started out ahead. And as he entered the pool, thanks to the strength of his team,
01:51he did start out with a lead. But as he neared the other end of the 50m pool, he witnessed
01:56first hand
01:56how dominant Gary truly was over that length. Gary pulled out ahead and the once optimistic Australian
02:03crowd went quiet. Ian felt like he was letting down the country. Gary's claim started rattling through
02:08his brain, taunting him. It was starting to ring true. Ian was getting smashed. But after the turn in the
02:14last 50m, as Ian lifted his head with each breath, he fought to close the gap. He felt like he
02:20was
02:20catching up, but he knew it would be close. So in the final 10m, Ian stopped looking. He held his
02:26breath,
02:26put his head down, and he swam. Until…
02:30The Australians had just broken the American stranglehold on this race!
02:36Australia hadn't just won gold, they'd also smashed America's world record by nearly two seconds.
02:42The Sydney crowd exploded with support, and just to rub salt into the wound, the Aussie team stood at the
02:47end of the pool, staring at Gary Hall Jr., and started strumming their air guitars.
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