Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The long arm of Jason Lezak kept Michael Phelps on target for a record eight gold medals at the Olympics and answered the trash talk from France.

Lezak stretched in front of Frenchman Alain Bernard on the final stroke to give the U.S. victory in the men's 400-meter freestyle relay and shatter the world record by 3.99 seconds.

The U.S. was second after Phelps swam the opening 100 meters, and it looked as if his quest to break Mark Spitz's single-Games mark of seven golds was over with Bernard leading by almost a body length with 25 meters left. Thanks to Lezak, the oldest man on the U.S. swimming squad at 32, the record hunt rolls on.

``It was unbelievable,'' Phelps told reporters. ``Jason finished the race better than we could have asked for. In the last 50, I was like, `This is going to be a really close race.' Jason in the last 50 was incredible.''

Phelps stood on the pool deck and bellowed as Lezak finished in 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds.

``I was very emotional,'' Phelps said after winning his second gold medal of the Beijing Games and eighth of his career, one shy of the record. He can tie the mark held by Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larissa Latynina with a win in the 200- meter freestyle tomorrow.

Bernard lost not only the gold medal but his world record in the 100-meter freestyle as well. Eamon Sullivan of Australia broke the mark with a 47.24-second opening leg, which is eligible for record status since the race begins from the starting blocks.

Trash Talk

The U.S. victory also answered the Frenchman's taunt that the Americans had no chance to regain the title they hadn't held since 1996.

``We're going to smash them,'' he told the French sports daily, L'Equipe. ``That's what we came for.''

Phelps said coach Bob Bowman relayed those comments to the team.

``It just got us fired up,'' he said.

On the medals stand, Phelps stepped across and shook hands with the French team.

``We just let our swimming do the talking,'' he said.

Phelps is swimming's superstar, with multinational sponsorships bringing him annual earnings estimated by ESPN at $5 million a year. He'll get a $1 million bonus from one sponsor, Speedo, if he ties or breaks Spitz's gold-medal record.

Lezak is swimming's utility player, a staple on U.S. relay teams whose lone individual medal at a major event was a silver in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships. He was on 400-meter freestyle squads that came up short in 2000 and 2004. He now has three gold medals from three Olympics, none bigger than the latest.

`Nation to Beat'

``I think I wanted it more than anybody, not just for myself, but to show that we are the nation to be beat in that relay,'' he told reporters.

The U.S. team lowered its world record to 3:12.23 in last night's preliminaries, with Phelps, Lezak and second-leg swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale sitting out. France played coy, too, with Bernard and Fabien Gilot passing up the heats.

Phelps, the world record-holder in the 200-meter freestyle, led off today in 47.51 seconds, trailing Sullivan's world mark. Weber-Gale pushed the U.S. in front against Gilot before Cullen Jones lost the lead in the third leg to Frederick Bosquet. Bernard took over with a 1.19-second lead.

``I knew it was going to come down to the end, and I was hoping to be ahead, but I never lost hope,'' Lezak said.

Final Stroke

As the finish approached, Lezak kept chopping at the deficit and pulled shoulder to shoulder with Bernard 10 meters out. The final stroke of the American's right arm started just before Bernard's and pulled him in front just as he touched the wall. The U.S. won by 0.08 second.

``I felt that I was in the lead,'' Bernard told reporters. ``I knew I had to accelerate but it got harder.''

Lezak made up 1.27 seconds in the final leg, most of it over the last 30 meters. His 46.06-second time was the fastest relay leg in history, the Associated Press said.

``I don't know how I was able to take it back that fast, because I've never been able to come anywhere near that for the last 50,'' he said. ``I can't even explain it, it was unreal.''

While he may have saved Phelps's chances of breaking the gold-medal record, Lezak said he was just doing his job.

``We were going out there to swim a 400 not a 4 by 100,'' he said. ``We are a team not four individuals. Michael can keep whatever he gets out of anything.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Larry Siddons in Beijing at lsiddons@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 11, 2008 02:00 EDT