The Taste of Bitterness

Michael Phelps, left, consoling Alain Bernard after the race Sunday.

From the New York Times: But in France, reports of Sunday’s dramatic relay race put the vow to smash the Yanks in a very secondary position, when it was mentioned at all. The authoritative sports daily L’Equipe did not include it in its natation roundup from Beijing, instead focusing on the “cursed eight hundredths,” which was “exactly what separated France from the USA, silver from the 4×100m gold, a race which will stand in Olympic history.” The paper added that even though it was the first Olympic medal Frenchmen had ever won in a swim relay, “that silver has a taste of bitterness.”