GOLD MEDAL EFFORT!!!

Moments after sending her a congratulatory text message, mere minutes after the U.S. women's team won the 4x200 meter relay race in Wednesday's London Olympics, Lauren Perdue texted back, "Yayy thankssss."

Lauren, a first time Olympian, didn't swim in the finals. Instead, the foursome of Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland and Allison Schmitt won the Gold Medal. They did so in a time of 7:42.92, which set a new Olympic record.

Australia (7:44.41) earned the Silver and France (7:47.49) took the Bronze.

Perdue earned a Gold Medal herself for being a part of the team. The Greenville, N.C., resident, who has had a sensational career at the University of Virginia, had the lead leg for the relay team during the morning's preliminary race. Perdue helped her team win the heat, and enter the finals with the second-best time overall (behind Australia).

After that race, she said her Olympic experience has been "amazing." She took in the Opening Ceremonies. She met several other Olympians. And she supposedly turned down a date with LeBron James. Yep, I would say that's pretty amazing.

Before the Games started, Perdue tweeted (https://twitter.com/LoPerdue), "Lebron James just invited me to dinner...Um wuuuutttt?!?"

After the preliminary race and prior to the finals on Wednesday, Perdue gave her account of the meeting with James to Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer. "He was kind of joking," Perdue said. "But he was basically like, 'Would you like to come eat with me at the dining hall?' And I said, 'Um, I'm sorry, I have a curfew. So I turned that one down, yeah.'"

Too bad for LeBron. Lauren is a classy, beautiful, funny, sweet lady.

I first met Lauren in 2008. We talked about, among other things, her dream of representing her country in the Olympics. It's so great to see great people achieve their dreams, and go beyond them.

Lauren isn't just a fantastic swimmer and an awesome person. She's as good as Gold.