| Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||
| Date | August 13, 2008 (heats) August 14, 2008 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 75 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 7:44.31 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ← 20042012 → | ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| 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 |
| Marathon | ||
| 10 km | men | women |
The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–14 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
For the first time since the event's inception in 1996, the Aussies smashed a new world record to overhaul the undefeated Americans for an Olympic title with a benefit of a sterling opening leg from Stephanie Rice. Starting the program's longest relay race with a remarkable Oceanian-record split of 1:56.60, Rice and her teammates Bronte Barratt (1:56.58), Kylie Palmer (1:55.22), and Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) registered a gold-medal time of 7:44.31 to shave nearly six seconds off the previous world record set by their greatest rivals in 2007.
China's Pang Jiaying expanded her stretch over U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff with an anchor of 1:54.39 to deliver the foursome of Yang Yu (1:56.79), Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64), and Tan Miao (1:58.11) a superb Asian record time of 7:45.93, and a silver medal for the host nation. After a disappointing Olympic campaign, the U.S. team of Allison Schmitt (1:57.71), Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19), Caroline Burckle (1:56.70), and Hoff (1:54.73) finally found the best form on the blazing anchor leg to end the race for the bronze in 7:46.33, finishing nearly four seconds under the old world record.
Italy's Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31), Alessia Filippi (1:56.68), Flavia Zoccari (1:59.80), and Federica Pellegrini (1:54.97) missed out the podium by over three seconds with a fourth-place time and a European record of 7:49.76. Meanwhile, the French quartet of Coralie Balmy (1:56.57), Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:57.95), Aurore Mongel (1:58.62), and Camille Muffat (1:57.52) occupied the fifth spot in 7:50.66. Earlier in the prelims, Muffat (1:57.32), Balmy (1:55.86), Céline Couderc (1:58.92), and Alena Popchanka (1:58.27), previously competed for Belarus in three Games, established a new Olympic record of 7:50.37 to close the session with a final top seed. Hungary (7:55.53), Japan (7:57.56), and Sweden (7:59.83) rounded out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight teams finished the race under eight minutes due to the presence of technology suits.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  United States (USA)Natalie Coughlin (1:56.43) Dana Vollmer (1:57.49) Lacey Nymeyer (1:59.19) Katie Hoff (1:56.98) |
7:50.09 | Melbourne, Australia | 29 March 2007 | |
| Olympic record |  United States (USA)Natalie Coughlin (1:57.74) Carly Piper (1:59.39) Dana Vollmer (1:58.12) Kaitlin Sandeno (1:58.17) |
7:53.42 | Athens, Greece | 18 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 13 | Heat 1 | Alena Popchanka (1:58.27) Céline Couderc (1:58.92) Camille Muffat (1:57.32) Coralie Balmy (1:55.86) |
 France |
7:50.37 | OR |
| August 14 | Final | Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) =OC Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) |
 Australia |
7:44.31 | WR |
Results
Heats
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nationality | Name | Time | Time behind | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
7 | Australia |
Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) OC Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) |
7:44.31 | WR | |
 |
6 |  China |
Yang Yu (1:56.79) Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64) Tan Miao (1:58.11) Pang Jiaying (1:54.39) |
7:45.93 | 1.62 | AS |
 |
5 | United States |
Allison Schmitt (1:57.71) Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19) Caroline Burckle (1:56.70) Katie Hoff (1:54.73) |
7:46.33 | 2.02 | AM |
| 4 | 3 |  Italy |
Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31) Alessia Filippi (1:56.68) Flavia Zoccari (1:59.80) Federica Pellegrini (1:54.97) |
7:49.76 | 5.45 | EU |
| 5 | 4 | France |
Coralie Balmy (1:56.57) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:57.95) Aurore Mongel (1:58.62) Camille Muffat (1:57.52) |
7:50.66 | 6.35 | |
| 6 | 1 |  Hungary |
Ágnes Mutina (1:58.17) Evelyn Verrasztó (1:57.80) Eszter Dara (2:00.39) Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:59.17) |
7:55.53 | 11.22 | |
| 7 | 8 |  Japan |
Haruka Ueda (1:58.44) Misaki Yamaguchi (1:58.51) Maki Mita (1:58.78) Emi Takanabe (2:01.83) |
7:57.56 | 13.25 | |
| 8 | 2 |  Sweden |
Josefin Lillhage (2:00.48) Gabriella Fagundez (2:00.09) Ida Marko-Varga (1:58.58) Petra Granlund (2:00.68) |
7:59.83 | 15.52 |
References
- "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- Newberry, Paul (14 August 2008). "Olympics Notebook: Phelps, Lochte set for classic 200 IM". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- Dillman, Lisa (14 August 2008). "Third encounters". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "Australia wins women's 4×200 freestyle relay with world record". Xinhua News Agency. 14 August 2008. Archived from the original on August 24, 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- Yang, Xinwei (14 August 2008). "Day of surprise wins for hosts". China Daily. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "U.S. women fail to win 800 relay for the first time since it began in 1996". ESPN. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- Coffey, Wayne (14 August 2008). "U.S. swimmers hit rough waters". New York Daily News. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Lohn, John (13 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Australia Smashes Women's 800 Free Relay World Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- Lohn, John (12 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: France Sets Olympic Record in Women's 800 Freestyle Relay to Close Session". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- Clarey, Christopher (30 March 2007). "Leaving others in his wake, Phelps sets another mark". New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2008.