Alain Bernard : Speakers & Interviews

Haha i was just reading these comments and one said about the french disliking us (obv meaning USA) well in all fairness the USA isnt exactly the most popular country in the world and most european countries inc Britian dont particually like or agree with americans.

Like him or not if it was an american (talking 'crap') non of u woud have a problem lol

I think he's adorable!

But more on the topic, I don't really think there was anything wrong with what he said, whether it was properly translated or not. It's a competition. You shouldn't go into it with the mentality that you can't win. And it makes everything a little more entertaining.
But Bernard seems very gracious and like a cool guy. He handled the situation well considering how people were running with his supposed quote.

I think many people lost their senses in that story. First of all, does anybody have the original video, where A. Bernard supposedly said the French would smash the Americans ?

Second thing, it is really only a game. Let us never forget that. Reading all these posts, I can only feel sad to see sometimes how much resentment there is between the US and France, and between the US and Europe more generally. It is really a shame when we have so much in common (and what we don't have in common is also great). It reminds me about the Freedom Fries story. By the way, what Americans call French bread or French toats is in no way French. This shows how biased our resentment often is.
And finally, whatever the fuss about the talking before the race, this was one of the greatest relays ever, if not the greatest. I am French, and even though I was disapointed with the results (as I am sure most Americans would have been if the French had won), I was really happy to watch this beautiful race. Jason Lezak was awesome, his performance is definitely one to remember. It's what we French call panache, and Jason Lezak undoubtedly made it an American word on that day !

I think Bernard, is one of the nicest swimmers out there, way nicer than phelps. I think Americans exaggerate things way out of hand.

Bernard could not have been more gracious to Cesar Cielo after the 50 free. He congratulated him in the pool and on the deck and even helped him unzip his LZR. I am having a hard time disliking this guy after watching that. He might be okay for a Frenchy.

It was nice of him to do the interview. He seems like a nice guy. He is champion in the 100m freestyle now. It will be interesting to see what he does in the 50m.

If you search alain bernard on youtube you'll find an interview with some of his training clips. This includes stretching, massage, weights (I think Power cleans too and weighted chins are included), and some other stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbLXMJ21mxA

Can anyone settle a silly argument? Does Bernard lift weights as I say his physique is not the usual swimmers?

Mwuahhaha, the frog munching doped French scum now eats crow! Another French surrender!

I really tried hard to find Bernard's original comments, and could only find this link http://www.antibes.maville.com/-Alain-Bernard-Le-favori-C-es…

There he said (After being asked about his individual chances)
Q: Les Américains ? (the USA ?)
A: Dans la tête, je pense qu'on est plus forts qu'eux. (In my (our ?) head, I believe we are stronger )
He never said "we will smash them" or anything similar.

I think the best thing people are saying is that trash talk pumps people up and makes them excited, and both the french and the US gave us a GREAT Show with that relay, and are incredible swimmers. lezak- best and most inspiring swim ever, and yes i was cheering SO hard for the USA. But people need to stop generalizing about the french AND the americans saying "french are arrogant bastards" or "no wonder everyone hates americans" first of all, theres arrogant americans and pompous french and theres also wonderful people on all sides, which most of these athletes seem to be- gracious and genuinely loving their sport, sure adding a little trash talk to spice things up.
all in all, GREAT race, GREAT interview, and best of luck to all the athletes who've worked hard to get here

Alain Bernard is not an arrogant guy.from what i've heard,d he is one of the most down to earth and humble swimmers in France. of course he talked some crap before the relay, but honestly what swimmer hasn't. Also the whole idea that what was said was lost in translation is definitely plausible.

If i recall, the Americans pulled the same stunt in 2000 saying they were going to "smash the aussies like guitars!" later after getting the gold, the aussies proceeded to play the air guitar on the podium. talking is bad, but the fact that he had the guts to do an interview in english means he's an admirable character.

the only ones that can take away phelps 8 are crocker and lochte.............and i bet lochte will do it

Popov owns - you are a fool. we are the last ones that should be complaining about doping when one of our own is CAUGHT. WHAT A FOOL YOU ARE! France at 2007 WC = 3rd in 400 free relay... their splits -

Gilot - 49.1 - lead off
Freddy - 48.4
Bernard - 48.1
A year and a half later and some new suits and those kinds of drops aren't ANY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT US SWIMMERS HAVE DONE. Note that
Weber-Gale's best time in the 100 free PRIOR to 2008 was 49.0 and then he busts out with a 47.7 at trials. 1.3 seconds in a year in the 100 free? NOT ANY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE FRENCH DID.
FOOL!!!!
FYI in case you missed it WE were the ones busted for doping, not France!!!!
Im an American and still this insults me! Other people can swim too, and good for them!!! The olympics would be incredibly boring if we blew everyone out all the time!!! Im glad France got fast, that relay was exciting!!!
Do some research!!!!!!!!!!

give the guy a break...who doesn't want to be known as the man who took away from phelps the mark spitz record?well, the french guys failed...the only one who can do this is ian crocker!

"anybody wonder WHERE the three frenchies besides fred b. came from?? they EXPLODED onto the international scene about a year ago, and before that, were nowhere to be found. sounds like doping to me....plus, look at the guy....good god"

Are you laughing ?!! You certainly don't know the swimming out of USA. Swim exists in the other country. Look their result in junior (Gilot européen junior champion in 2002 for exemple !) before writing bloody things. France is 3rd in 2003 and 2007 in the world championship ! You talk doping concerning the french swimmers but what can you say about Hardy ?!!!!!!!!

way to get this interview

anybody wonder WHERE the three frenchies besides fred b. came from?? they EXPLODED onto the international scene about a year ago, and before that, were nowhere to be found. sounds like doping to me....plus, look at the guy....good god

First of all, good interview considering all that happen. Garret kept a very good tone throughout.

Second, I currently live in Europe and work with French people all the time. This may be generalizing but in my opinion (and I think a lot of people, not just Americans, can back me up on this) the French are generally just stand-offish type of people, or at least come off that way, even within their own country. In fact they are a lot like some parts of America.
Lastly, it was a great race and had the typical trash talking that really entices any sporting event. I thought we did a very good job of keeping our heads high and "smashing" them.

I agree J, good luck freddy, but im pretty sure its going to come down to a phelps-crocker 1-2 punch

i hate how everyone is talking crap about the french here. Last time i checked, only bernard said something arrogant. no wonder the rest of the world hates us and i've personally met freddy and he is the nicest guy. He is full of class and is really down to earth. He treats the slower swimmers with the same respect they give him. His split was great in that relay and definitely slaughtered Cullen Jones. I hope he wins that 100 fly. Good Luck Freddy!!!

You guys are all fools if you dont like trash talking. how much more exciting did that trash talking make the race? you guys are all sissy little school girls if you dont like what bernard did. YOU SHOULD BE THANKING HIM FOR TALKING TRASH, NOT PUTTING HIM DOWN. had he not said what he did we wouldn't have gone 3:08.24 !!!!!!!!!!

THANK HIM YOU FOOLS!!!

gotta give the guy credit for not going into hiding after the relay. he's obviously disappointed, but he did the right thing in talking a little bit about it. bernard was part of history, but not in the way he'd have liked.

i'm happiest for jason. that swim will be talked about for decades. no matter what insane splits are swum in the coming years, his anchor will be talked about as one of the greatest relay swims of all time.
it did wonders for our sport here at home, too. we get the u.s. stage once every four years, but this one will carry over past the olympics this time. non-swim people all over the country talked about that danged relay today.
when someone mentions swimming between now and london, john q. public will spit out two names instead of one. he'll say something like "that phelps is really something, but remember that lezak guy on that relay? what a race!"
we throw the word "hero" around a lot these days, but that swim was truly heroic. we'd been spanked for the past two games by two different countries and were headed for a third by yet another country. we needed this one and lezak really came through.

frankly i love french bread but frankly le french got b0ned last night, i mean frankly threre is no other way to say it other than they got b0ned, i mean, c'mon, like a tenth of a second, c'mon thats unacceptable, and sullivan regaining the WR thats completely uncalled for. By the way, when freddy swims he looks like a frickin frighter he moves so much water. Michael's face after the race was absolutely priceless. By the way, i would never have guessed that more than half the heat last night would break the 1 min barrier. Go Amanda Beard*!!

*I'll bet if she raced n*ked she would go faster : ) its an olympic tradition isnt it? so why not revive it? I cant imagine that they would ban preforming the sport the way it was originally created.

American media is messed up nowadays. The comment was blown out of proportion by Phelps' lovers from NBC. Don't get me wrong, Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all-time, but the media are doing anything in their power to advertise and boost their ratings.

GO FRANCE numero uno
FRENCH BREAD OWNS AMERICAN BREAD

i had french toast this morning after that frenchie got shat on. no one spits game about america. NO ONE!

Yo the french team came get it sideways. Jason Lezak showed them what what in the butt for sure
USA USA USA All the Way!!!!!

this guys all talk and i am glad america put him in his place!
USA ALL THE WAY

lets go france all the way!! i want france to win so bad. They are my favorites. I mean c'mon, who doesnt like the french?

Alain is gonna destroy on the 100m and 50m...this guy is awesome!
GO FRA!

Yo...here is a link for the splits to the race...http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/resultsandschedules/rsc=SWM411100/index.html

how fun would that race have been if alain hadnt talked before the race? It just makes it more interesting and brings more needed attention to the sport worldwide. That was an amazing race and the fact that they can respect each other and not make excuses after the race was over encompasses the true spirit of the games.

where can we find the times results (like splits and stuff) online??

well so much for "smashing the americans" take that frenchie!

i cant belive you got to interview him swett garrett

when does he say that?

On another note, Chuck Norris cant be found anywhere since yesterday.
Word is he vanished to the mountains of Sri Lank afraid of what Jason could do to him after he watched that 46.0 split last night.

and most amazing race ever by the way!!!

Joe shmo i think your french is off a little bit he actually said go f*** yourselfs

fred biscuits just told everyone on here to "go to hell" "Allez vous faire encule!!"

Kudos to Alain for giving the interview and Garrett for getting it. Alain seems to want to move on from the relay - which is the right thing to do. No need to sit around and dwell on it, right? I some respect the Jason, Webber-Gale, and Phelps need to move on as well - they have other events. I know everyone wants Alain to crawl into a hole and cry but he certainly is not. Success for most people is only rivaled by their defeat (minus Phelps apparently). What did Jason say, "I just didn't want to come up short again." You fail or succeed and build from there.
Congrats to everyone - now how many hours of rowing am i going to have to watch to see today's heats ?

Jason ate Bernard

Funny finding you here Abe...

...Now I hope that nobody thinks that I am the real Abe Lincoln

I don't have any respect for him, in this case words speak louder than actions. It is rare that you hear world class athletes talking crap about competition. Of course, everyone knows that the french dislike us. About Hall jr. comon, he got what he deserved and that is in the past. This is now and not then so quit trying to compare the two. But if you do compare the two, both situations just show that if you talk crap, you will get your blank handed to you. Good job Jason!

I respect Bernard more now than ever. That's gotta be tough giving an interview in your non-native language to the US after that disappointment. You know he feels like he just got punched in the stomach, but he was man enough to answer the questions.

I'm all for the trash talk he said ahead of time. Of course he believed that, why not say it. They WERE there to smash the US, and everyone else. Why not have some confidence and swagger. The US beat them, so they get the last word.
He and his team swam pretty awesome anyway. I'm sure if you asked ahead of time they would have been THRILLED to know they were going to go 3:08.3. Congrats to them.
I'm not sure if I really believe Fred took the time from the olympics to post a nasty note here, anyone could have filled his name in. If it was him, no hard feelings. I cheered for him when he broke 19 in the 50 and got out of the pool screaming and flexing. I forwarded the link to my friends, and was in awe of the swim. I wasn't offended or hurt by the reaction.
All in good fun, I say.

He didn't come across rude to me. The fact he stopped and talked to Garrett is pretty cool if you ask me.

Wow nice grab!

Nice one Garret, when you interviewing Chuck W.?

First off nice job in getting him to talk - second good job in asking some hard questions.

On the thought of him being humbled and being rude - let's be realistic folks - not once and I mean not once did I ever see Gary Hall Jr ever show any sign of being humble after he ran his mouth and came up short - besides that point, they are in the middle of the competition of their lives and he is an athlete who believes in himself very strongly and I am sure still believes that he will the 100 and the 50 - It would be wrong for him - in many different to now throw his hands up and become humble - he wants to kick people's butts and I don't think he should apologize for believing he can.
With being rude - how many of you after losing one of the greatest races in Olympic history - therefore you will the one to be known as the loser in this story, the guy who couldn't finish, the guy that ran his mouth, etc.... - would want to talk to anybody!!
I know this is part of their job but's let's remember he is human - I can tell you I have a lot of respect for these guys seeing the questions that they have to handle from reporters - not you Garrett I thought you were very respectful and insightful with the questions, but I saw an interview with Lochte after the 400 IM and the all the reporter asked was 'Did you know Phelps was swimming that fast?' 'What do you think can Phelps do this?' 'Is Phelps even beatable?' - man I would have went Mike Tyson on the guy!!!
Garrett asked some pointed questions and I think Alain give direct answers and didn't try to fluff it up and was far from being rude.

garett you have some major kahunas talking to his 6'5 massive jacked frame about his loss the the USA. Kudos

Who cares what was said. I want addresses on both the French and American relay swimmers. They deserve a "thank you" card for the show they put on last night. Perhaps the best race in the history of Olympic swimming.

This is what swimming is all about. How great that it was done in front of the whole world!

I would be surprised if that was actually Fred that posted that. Anyone could have typed in his name when they made that post.

Hey Freddy, your boy ran his mouth and didn't back it up. Yall deserve everything that comes back at you.

I think you may be half right. Im sure Bernard said something along those lines, though I am equally sure, based on my own speculation and your argument that when it was translated (if it was in french) that it was tweaked to be more extreme than the word for word translation. However, if he said it in english, i think it was word for word.

I can't forget the looks of shock on the faces of the French swimmers at the end of that race...
Alain still doesn't seem to believe it - and thats probably a good thing because he has to face them all again in the 100!
What a race the 100 - and the 50 will be...

Can anybody please show me, in the original French or in a video, of Bernard actually saying, "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for." I cannot find this quote IN ANY OTHER LANGUAGE ON THE INTERNET NOR IN A VIDEO.

Besides, that line of speech seems VERY different from his apparent control of the English language above. There is no equivalent for "to smash (a person)" in French. The closest is briser, which communicates more of an "upset/surprise." The last sentence ends in a PREPOSITION, which, believe it or not, is HIGHLY IDIOMATIC! He would have to be a genius in English to know that it is OK at times for Midwestern Americans to end sentences with prepositions. Furthermore, the comment is very, very awkward in French. "C'est puisque nous sommes venus ici." is NOT SOMETHING A FRENCHMAN WOULD SAY!
The comment is MADE UP, in order to pander to SOME STUPID AMERICANS' ANTI-FRENCH AND SUPER-NATIONALIST SENTIMENTS, so you'll buy more advertisers' junk by watching the Olympics. It is NEVER OK TO SLANDER SOMEBODY, MUCH LESS TO USE IT TO SLANDER A GROUP OF PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE OLYMPICS, INTERNATIONALISM, BUT IT MAKES ME SICK THAT SO MANY CAN BE SO WEAK-MINDED, ESPECIALLY IN MY OWN COUNTRY.
I will not disparage the achievement that our boys put through in one heck of a swim, but I WILL ATTACK SUCH AN INJUSTICE! This is not an anti-American rant, and if you want to say "but they deserve it cuz we killed teh Germunz in World Wur II", then I will defend the nation that gave us freedom from monarchy, almost all of the democratic and liberal views we hold from the Enlightenment, modern mathematics and scientific principle, heck, even half of our language! GET BENT.

Awesome catch, Garrett! All the stuff you're catching here, there and everywhere is so much more REAL than what we have to slog through on TV here (though Andrea whatsherface is doing a credible job on deck, I think).

That race last night/morning was everything that any athlete, no matter what the sport, needs to know about how to and how not to compete. I wonder if Bernard realizes how much of a role Lezak's experience played in all that. Those eight one-hundredths of a second took years to assemble.

He shouldn't have taken it out that fast. He got his emotions take control of the race. If he would have taken it out a few tenths slower he would have had Lezak easily. Bernard is a better individual swimmer.

I think it is awesome that Garrett caught up with him shortly after. Great interview from Garrett. I think a lot of the problem is that he struggles with the English Language a little, that being said I was so jacked about him getting run down by the great Lezak

Allez vous faire encule!!

all of you!

it seems that mr. bernard hasn't humbled one bit. i guess lezak will have to destroy him again to get the point across. also, i think he could stand to be a little more polite in the interview, but then again he did need to get out of there in a hurry - 30 seconds extra rest for prelims 36 hours away may come in handy. ps garrett you have mad skilz.

Garrett you are the man getting that interview!!! Now honestly, how bad did you just wanna say, "whatcha got to say now, sucker?" Keep up the good work.

ps...i guess we gonna see a better 50 than 100 from him...he was out 21.27 in the relay!!CRAZY S***!!!

well...he is a very nice (silver medal :D) guy!!!