You are working on Staging1

The Olympic Relay Anchor Hero Jason Lezak Coached Himself

Contributor Josh Davis is a 5-time Olympic medalist and the Manager Partner the Mutual of Omaha BREAKout Swim Clinics, a SwimSwam partner. 

The longest running Olympian swim clinic tour, the Mutual of Omaha BREAKout! Swim Clinic tour, founded in 2007, wants to join forces with your team as part of their annual 100 city tour.  Their roster of clinicians includes some of the greatest swimmers in history. This week, we focus on one of our most accomplished Olympians and Speakers on the Mutual of Omaha Gold Medal Team, Jason Lezak.

Equivalent with the words “the relay” and “the anchor”, Jason Lezak’s amazing final leg of the 4x100 free relay in Beijing 2008 is still on record as the fastest relay split in history. Still today, anytime the swimming community needs some extra encouragement or seeks validation that the everyday pain and persistence of training will eventually pay off, they can simply re-watch Lezak’s heroic effort and get reinfused with energy and enthusiasm to conquer another day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxy920Nd7yY

Leading up to that historic relay, Team USA came into the Beijing Games as the underdog, with the squad of French relay swimmers seemingly unbeatable on paper and the Aussies stacked with talent as well.  Already carrying the disappointment from both the 2000 and 2004 Games where Team USA’s relay earned a sub-par silver and bronze, respectively, in 2008 the American squad had the extra pressure of keeping Michael Phelps on track towards his goal of 8 gold medals at the Beijing Games.

Another component of this memorable event was the fact that, from 2005 to 2008, 32-year old Jason Lezak had been training and coaching himself. Considered past his prime age-wise, Lezak kept grinding in the pool and in the weight room, confident that he would one day reap the benefits of his intense hard work and dedication.

Relying on himself is a concept with which Lezak was intimately familiar, as this 4-time Olympian was kicked off his college team at one point for having a consistently poor attitude and effort level.  But what is truly extraordinary is how this Team USA Captain used all of his career ups and downs as fuel to shape him into the goal-setting guru and master clinician he is today.  As a motivational speaker, Jason inspires today’s youth with his perspective on the highs and lows of his career and his first-hand account of what transpired that night in Beijing.

Still on an upward trajectory, Jason has broken another record in his career, surpassing Josh Davis for having conducted the most clinics in a summer.  Jason has led over 30 clinics within a 3 month period, taking over the lead from Josh who conducted 28 in that same time span.

If you would like to relive one of the most amazing moments in swimming history with Jason at one of his BREAKout! clinics please call the Mutual of Omaha BREAKout! offices today. Jason would love to come to your team and chase down your swimmers! He is available for clinics, banquet talks, school presentations, grand openings of pools and civic luncheons, or as some teams have done, you could commission Jason do all 5 in one weekend!

Help your swimmers BREAKout! this next season with Jason Lezak by going to www.breakoutswimclinic.com

Upcoming clinics with Jason Lezak:

  • Sept 13 Brunswick, ME w/ Jason
  • Sept 26 Milwaukee, WI w/ Jason, Josh Davis and Garrett Weber-Gale
  • Oct 18 Dubuque, IA w/ Jason and Josh Davis

Some of the other athletes available through the Mutual of Omaha BREAKout! Swim Clinics:

mutual of omaha breakout, adWomen:

  • Allysa Anderson
  • Haley Anderson
  • Amanda Beard
  • Elizabeth Beisel
  • Karlee Bispo
  • Elaine Breeden
  • Caroline Burckle
  • Maya DiRado
  • Janet Evans
  • Margo Geer
  • Annie Grevers
  • Misty Hyman (courtesy of the Mutual of Omaha BREAKOUT Swim Clinic)Jessica Hardy
  • Kathleen Hersey
  • Margaret Hoelzer
  • Misty Hyman
  • Lara Jackson
  • Lacy Nymeyer John
  • Madison Kennedy
  • Kristy Kowal
  • Jason Lezak

    Jason Lezak

    Dagny Knutson

  • Ariana Kukors
  • Breeja Larson
  • Caitlin Leverenz
  • Christine Magnuson
  • Stephanie Rice
  • Megan Romano
  • Allison Schmitt
  • Laura Sogar
  • Kim Vandenberg
  • Shannon Vreeland
  • Kate Ziegler

mutual of omaha breakout, adMen:

  • Michael Andrew
  • Randall Bal
  • Ricky Berens
  • Clark Burckle
  • Tyler Clary
  • Ian Crocker
  • Josh Davis
  • Hans Dersch
  • Conor Dwyer
  • Anthony Ervin
  • Jimmy Feigen
  • Michael Andrew and Peter Andrew (courtesy of Keith Allen)

    Michael Andrew and Peter Andrew (courtesy of Keith Allen)

    Rowdy Gaines

  • Mark Gangloff
  • Andrew Gemmell
  • Eugene Godsoe
  • Matt Grevers
  • Brendan Hansen
  • Dax Hill
  • Charlie Houchin
  • Cullen Jones
  • Jason Lezak
  • Ryan Lochte
  • Mike McBroom
  • Matt McLean
  • Alex Meyer
  • Cody Miller
  • Aaron Peirsol
  • David Plummer
  • Eric Risolvato
  • Josh Schneider
  • Giles Smith
  • Scott Spann
  • Davis Tarwater
  • Darian Townsend
  • Peter Vanderkaay

About Josh Davis

Josh Davis USMS Nationals by Mike LewisJosh Davis was the first American to go 1:46 in the 200m free at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He just recently broke his own Masters American Record in the 40-45 age group going :20.6 He has been leading the Mutual Of Omaha BREAKout! Swim Clinic Tour for 8 years to challenge the next generation of swimmers to work harder, swim smarter and have more fun. Josh is a proud 2 breather and he will race anybody, anytime, anyplace.

2000 Olympics
Silver 400m freestyle relay
Silver 800m freestyle relay

Josh Davis1996 Olympics
Gold 400m freestyle relay
Gold 800m freestyle relay
Gold 400m medley relay

Follow Josh Davis on Twitter here.

Fan the Mutual of Omaha BREAKOUT Swim Clinic on Facebook here.

Mutual of Omaha BREAKOUT Swim Clinic HQ.

Become the Ultimate Swimmer. See here.

mutual of omaha breakout, ad

In This Story

5
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

5 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
mcmflyguy
9 years ago

I urge anyone that really wants a fantastic look into lezak and the Olympic games go watch bud greenspans documentaries on the 04 and 08 Olympics. some of the greatest sports documentaries.

mikeh
9 years ago

Below is one if the greatest posts in swimswam history:

http://swimswam.com/stories-from-the-pool-jason-lezak-part-one/

A film about Jason Lezak! We got Part 1 which was fantastic, but we never got Part 2. I want to encourage the filmmakers to continue.

mikeh
9 years ago

Below is one if the greatest posts in swimswam history:

http://swimswam.com/stories-from-the-pool-jason-lezak-part-one/

A film about Jason Lezak

Bill
9 years ago

What is the criteria for some of the names on the list to be part of the clinic? I get Lezak and Misty but Eric Risovalto? Annie Grevers? Dax Hill?

completelyconquered
Reply to  Bill
9 years ago

The criteria is that they work for Mutual of Omaha swim clinics. Like duh obviously.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »