Crocker makes most of gift from Phelps

ATHENS (Reuters) -- Ian Crocker felt the gift had been too big to accept but he grabbed the chance he had been given by Michael Phelps and shared a world record breaking spree in the U.S. medley relay team on Saturday.

Phelps stepped aside to give Crocker the opportunity to swim the butterfly leg in the relay despite having beaten the world record holder by 0.04 seconds in Friday's 100 metres butterfly final to earn the spot himself.

Crocker responded with the fastest-ever butterfly relay split of 50.28 seconds as the U.S. quartet shattered their own world record in three minutes 30.68 seconds.

At first he had been reluctant to accept the chance to swim.

"I didn't want to do it," he said. "I felt like I hadn't earned it. I knew that if I wanted to be on the relay tonight then my job was to finish first and I did everything in my power to try and do that but it didn't work out."

"It was a hard thing, it was definitely tugging at me, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do in that situation, just being given a gift that you can't possibly accept."

However, he reconsidered.

"When you break it down, black and white, he beat me and that's the way it is," he said.

"But when you start getting into the nitty-gritty of it, when you're talking about relay experience and relay take-offs, it gets closer and closer and there's a lot of grey area in there.

"So that was the decision that Michael made along with the coaching staff and I just wanted to take advantage of it," he said.

"I'm really happy with the way things ended up. I did the job they thought I could do and I'm really happy about that."

It was all the more satisfying for Crocker because he had been unwell when he swam in the 4x100 freestyle relay the previous Sunday and the U.S. were beaten into third place.

'SOMETHING SPECIAL'

He said Peirsol -- who broke the 100 backstroke world record on the lead-off leg -- and Hansen, who both train with him in Texas, were "two guys that I consider brothers."

"A special moment like that -- there's no better entertainment in the world ... I think we all felt that same vibe," he said. "We had a connection before we even stepped out on the deck and we knew we were going to do something special."

Crocker said his rivalry with Phelps was good for swimming.

"The fact that in the last four years the world record has taken such giant leaps in the 100 fly shows that being competitive and having close rivalries is what's best for the sport," he said.

"When you can make them healthy rivalries, where at the end you shake each other's hand and you're proud of each other for you know what you've gone through.

"Michael and my relationship is really something pretty cool.

"He's a tough competitor and, despite friendship, when we get on the blocks everything else erases and we're out to win, out to tear up the water."

And the words they exchanged after the relay?

"He said 'congratulations' and I said 'thank you'," Crocker said to laughter.

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