Alain Bernard is a French swimmer from Aubagne.
Bernard has won two medals in the 2008 Summer
Olympics. After competing on the silver
medal-winning French 4 x 100 m relay team, Bernard
won the gold medal in the men's 100 m freestyle
event.
Bernard is the former holder of the 100 m freestyle
long course world record after winning the European
LC Championships 2008 final in a time of 47.50
seconds on March 22, 2008. He had already beaten the
world record the previous day, finishing in 47.60
seconds in the semifinals. On March 23, Bernard
lowered the 50 m freestyle world record to a time of
21.50 but only held the record for four days before
being bettered by Australian Eamon Sullivan.
Sullivan then bettered Bernard's 100 m freestyle
mark in the opening leg of the 4x100 meter relay in
the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Bernard responded in the
semi final of the 100 m with a time of 47.20, only
to subsequently be bettered again in the next
semifinal by Sullivan with a time of 47.05.
At the French Championships, Bernard qualified for
the Olympic Games in Beijing in the 50 m freestyle
(with a time of 21.69 s) and 100 m free (47.82 s).
In the days leading up to the 2008 Olympics, when
asked about the United States team in the 4x100
metre relay race, Bernard was quoted as saying "The
Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we
came here for". He and his team ended up in second
place behind the American team by .08 seconds.
Bernard, who was given a lead going into the anchor
leg of slightly less than a bodylength, was caught
in the final strokes by Jason Lezak, whose anchor
leg of 46.06 seconds was the fastest relay leg in
history.
The close defeat left Bernard "wounded," according
to his coach. However, he rebounded to win the gold
medal in the men's 100 metre freestyle final, in
which Lezak tied for the bronze. Bernard became only
the second Frenchman to win a gold medal in
swimming, after Jean Boiteux, who won the 400m
freestyle at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
