Jason Lezak

Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American swimming executive. He currently serves as the general manager of the Cali Condors which is part of the International Swimming League. He is a former American competition swimmer who specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. Jason started swimming when he was very young, and, at the age of ten, participated in the junior Olympics. However, his interest in athletics spanned many sports – basketball, baseball, soccer, and water polo – several of which he continued to play in high school. It wasn’t until after his collegiate swimming career at the University of California, Santa Barbara that his professional rise began. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spanning four Olympic games and garnering eight Olympic medals.[1]

Jason Lezak
Lezak speaking in 2016
Personal information
Full nameJason Edward Lezak
National team United States
Born (1975-11-12) November 12, 1975
Irvine, California
Height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight210 lb (95 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubCali Condors
Irvine Novaquatics
Rose Bowl Aquatics
College teamUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

Personal life

Lezak was born in Irvine, California, the son of Linda (née Mann), a former elementary school science teacher, and David Lezak, a former leather goods salesman.[2] He is Jewish.[3] The name Lezak is pronounced Leh-Zhack and is Polish (short e). Lezak attended El Camino Real Elementary School (now Woodbury Elementary School) and Irvine High School, as well as the University of California, Santa Barbara.[2] He swam for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos swimming and diving team from 1995 to 1998. Lezak currently lives in Orange County, California with his wife Danielle and 3 kids.[4] [5]

Executive career

Lezak serves as the general manager for the Cali Condors which is part of the International Swimming League. In 2019 the inaugural year of the league the Condors finished third place in the finals. As the top finishing American team, the Condors were led by high scorers Caeleb Dressel and Lilly King. [6]

Swimming career

Olympics

Lezak has competed in four Olympic Games, in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, and has won eight Olympic medals; two bronze, two silver, and four gold.

2000 Olympics

Lezak earned his first long-course international swimming gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was part of the 4×100-meter medley relay in the Olympics in Sydney. He also won a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

2004 Olympics

Lezak competed in several events at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, and was a member of the 4×100-meter medley relay team that set a new world record and earned another gold medal at the games. Lezak also won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay and finished fifth in the 50-meter freestyle.

2008 Olympics

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. At the start of the leg, Lezak trailed French anchor Alain Bernard by nearly a full body length. In the final 25 meters, with Bernard still leading by half a body length, Lezak overtook Bernard. At the time, Lezak's split of 46.06 was the fastest 100-meter freestyle split ever by nearly 0.6 seconds (at the 2019 World Championships Duncan Scott swam a 46.14 in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay to reduce that margin to 0.08 seconds).[7] The American team's final time of 3:08:24 was just 0.08 seconds ahead of the French team's 3:08.32, making it the closest finish in the event's history. Both teams finished nearly four seconds ahead of the previous world record.[8]

Lezak also earned his first individual Olympic medal, having tied for bronze with Brazilian swimmer César Cielo Filho in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 47.67.[9]

In the final race of these games Lezak anchored the U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay to a gold medal securing Michael Phelps final gold medal to break Mark Spitz record.[10]

2012 Olympics

Lezak qualified for his fourth Olympics at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. His sixth-place finish in the Olympic Trial finals was good enough to reach the London Games as a member of the U.S. 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.[11] At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, Jimmy Feigen, Matt Grevers, Ricky Berens and Lezak swam for the U.S. team in the preliminaries. Nathan Adrian, Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones and Ryan Lochte swam in the finals, and together all these competitors earned a silver medal for the team's second-place finish in the finals.[12][13] Lezak became the first male swimmer in Olympic history to win four medals in the same event, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Short course competitions

In short-course competitions, Lezak won five world championships: four relays including the 2002 4x100m freestyle and medley, and 2004 4x100m freestyle, and a gold in the 100-meter freestyle in 2004. Lezak has also won seven U.S. Championships, three times in the 50-meter freestyle and four in the 100-meter freestyle.

2009; Maccabiah Games
Lezak at the 2009 Maccabiah Games.

Lezak passed up on attending the 2009 World Aquatics Championships to compete in the 18th Maccabiah Games in Israel from July 12 to 29, 2009.[14] Lezak was given the honor of lighting the Maccabiah torch at the Opening Ceremony.[15] At the 2009 Maccabiah Games, Lezak won gold medals in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and 4×100-meter medley relay.[16]

At the 2017 Maccabiah Games, in the special 4x50m relay race between Israeli and American all-star teams, American Olympic champions Lezak, Lenny Krayzelburg (four Olympic golds), and Anthony Ervin (three Olympic golds), with masters swimmer Alex Blavatnik, swam a time of 1:48.23 and defeated Israeli Olympians Guy Barnea, Yoav Bruck, Eran Groumi, and Tal Stricker, who had a time of 1:51.25.[17]

Personal bests

His personal bests (long-course) are:

  • 50 m freestyle: 21.90
  • 100 m freestyle: 47.58 (former American record)
  • 100 m freestyle relay split 46.06 (fastest relay split ever, even though FINA does not recognize world records for relay splits, unless they were in the opening leg, as only the opening leg is done from a stationary start, whereas later swimmers can lean over in the process of diving as the preceding swimmer is coming in)

Accolades

In 2003 he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[18]

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See also

References
  1. Ashworth, Alexandra (December 21, 2016). "jason lezak". SwimSwam.
  2. http://usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1453&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&biosid=614353d8-9dbd-4f8f-9766-0b90730d9ce7
  3. "Sports Shorts". Jewish Sports Review. 8 (87): 18. September–October 2011.
  4. Watkins, Mike. "jason-lezak-continues-to-teach-the-future". Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20120617094552/http://swimming.about.com/od/swimhistoryandstars/p/lezak.htm. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. Padadatos, Markos (January 23, 2020). "cali-condors-gm-jason-lezak-looking-forward-to-isl-second-season". Digital Journal.
  7. "Scott's 46.14 Anchor Leads British Men To Euro Record In Medley Relay". SwimSwam. July 28, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  8. "Phelps stays gold as U.S. has record 4x100 race". ESPN.com. August 11, 2008. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  9. "Lezak swims to bronze medal". Orange County Register. August 15, 2008. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  10. "Great eighth: Phelps completes gold-medal quest". ESPN.com. August 17, 2008. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  11. "Lezak returns to Olympics", SI.com, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., June 29, 2012, retrieved June 30, 2012
  12. Greenberg, Chris (July 29, 2012), "Ryan Lochte Overtaken Late As France Wins Gold in 4x100-Meter Relay", HuffingtonPost, TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., retrieved July 31, 2012
  13. "Jason Lezak likely closes Olympics career with a silver medal", JewishJournal.com, Tribe Media Corp., retrieved July 31, 2012
  14. "Lezak partners with Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel".
  15. "Lezak lights torch at Maccabiah opening". July 13, 2009. Archived from the original on July 16, 2009.
  16. "Javanifard, Lezak make splash at Maccabiah Games". July 24, 2009.
  17. "Records fall as Olympians shine at Maccabiah Games," The Jerusalem Post.
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