| Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
| Dates | August 20, 2004 (heats) August 21, 2004 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 73 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 3:30.68 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ← 20002008 → | ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | women | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Butterfly | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Individual medley | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
| 4 × 200 m | men | women |
| Medley relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
The men's 4 × 100 meter medley relay took place on 20–21 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.
The U.S. team added two new world records to the books in the final men's event of the Olympic swimming program. Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, and Jason Lezak lowered their time set at the 2003 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, stopping the clock in 3:30.68. At the opening of the race, Peirsol led off a backstroke leg with a new world record of 53.45, beating a 0.15-second mark set by Lenny Krayzelburg (53.60) from the Pan Pacific Championships in 1999.
Meanwhile, the Germans earned a silver medal in a European record of 3:33.62, 11-hundredths of a second under the old Olympic record set by Team USA in 2000. Japan finished third in 3:35.22 to hold off the strong Russian team anchored by double Olympic champion Alexander Popov, who made up more than 1.5 seconds, but fell short of a medal in his last Olympic final.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  United States (USA)Aaron Peirsol (53.71) Brendan Hansen (59.61) Ian Crocker (50.39) Jason Lezak (47.83) |
3:31.54 | Barcelona, Spain | 27 July 2003 |
| Olympic record |  United States (USA)Lenny Krayzelburg (53.87) Ed Moses (59.84) Ian Crocker (52.10) Gary Hall Jr. (47.92) |
3:33.73 | Sydney, Australia | 23 September 2000 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 21 | Final | Aaron Peirsol (53.45) Brendan Hansen (59.37) Ian Crocker (50.28) Jason Lezak (47.58) |
United States |
3:30.68 | WR |
Results
Heats
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | United States |
Aaron Peirsol (53.45) WR Brendan Hansen (59.37) Ian Crocker (50.28) Jason Lezak (47.58) |
3:30.68 | WR | |
 |
5 |  Germany |
Steffen Driesen (54.26) Jens Kruppa (1:00.50) Thomas Rupprath (51.40) Lars Conrad (47.46) |
3:33.62 | 2.94 | EU |
 |
6 |  Japan |
Tomomi Morita (54.25) AS Kosuke Kitajima (59.35) Takashi Yamamoto (51.87) Yoshihiro Okumura (49.75) |
3:35.22 | 4.54 | AS |
| 4 | 1 |  Russia |
Arkady Vyatchanin (55.15) Roman Sloudnov (1:01.00) Igor Marchenko (51.74) Alexander Popov (48.02) |
3:35.91 | 5.23 | |
| 5 | 7 |  France |
Simon Dufour (55.74) Hugues Duboscq (1:00.07) Franck Esposito (52.22) Frédérick Bousquet (48.54) |
3:36.57 | 5.89 | |
| 6 | 8 |  Ukraine |
Pavlo Illichov (56.19) Oleg Lisogor (1:00.99) Andriy Serdinov (50.80) Yuriy Yegoshin (48.89) |
3:36.87 | 6.19 | |
| 7 | 2 |  Hungary |
László Cseh (54.89) Richárd Bodor (1:00.25) Zsolt Gáspár (53.32) Attila Zubor (49.00) |
3:37.46 | 6.78 | |
| 8 | 3 |  Great Britain |
Gregor Tait (55.69) James Gibson (1:00.30) James Hickman (52.64) Matthew Kidd (49.14) |
3:37.77 | 7.09 |
References
- "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
- ^ Thomas, Stephen (21 August 2004). "Two World Records to the USA in One Race: American Men Set New 400m Medley Standard, Aaron Peirsol Lowers the 100 Backstroke Mark". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- Michaelis, Vicky (21 August 2004). "Medley relay world record hands Phelps his eighth medal". USA Today. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- "USA win 4×100m swim relay". BBC Sport. 21 August 2004. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
