Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay; at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Venue	Sydney International Aquatic Centre
Dates	September 19, 2000 (heats & final)
Competitors	75 from 16 nations
Winning time	7:07.05 WR
Medalists
	← 1996 2004 →

Last updated May 15, 2023

After defeating the Americans to capture the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay title four days earlier, the Australians added another relay gold medal to their hardware in the event by the delight of a raucous home crowd. Dominating the race from start to finish, the Aussie foursome of Ian Thorpe (1:46.03), Michael Klim (1:46.40), Todd Pearson (1:47.36), and Bill Kirby (1:47.26) posted a sterling time of 7:07.05 to demolish a new world record and cut off the former Soviet Union's 1992 Olympic standard by almost four seconds.^[2]^[3]

Team USA's Scott Goldblatt (1:49.66), Josh Davis (1:46.49), Jamie Rauch (1:48.74) sent Klete Keller to be an anchor for a second-place battle. Trailing behind the Dutch and the Italians with only 25 metres left, Keller fought off a tight challenge with a split of 1:47.75 to snatch the silver for the Americans in 7:12.64. Meanwhile, the Netherlands moved from fifth-place turns by Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.60), Johan Kenkhuis (1:51.18), and Marcel Wouda (1:48.56) to race on the final stretch for the bronze in 7:12.70, after producing a superb anchor of 1:44.88, the fastest split of all time, set by Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband.^[4]^[5]^[6]

The Italian team of Andrea Beccari (1:49.67), Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.41), Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.92), and Massimiliano Rosolino (1:45.91) missed the podium with a fourth-place time of 7:12.91, holding off the fast-pacing Brits' Edward Sinclair (1:49.61), Paul Palmer (1:47.15), Marc Spackman (1:48.85), and James Salter (1:47.37) by seven-hundredths of a second (7:12.98).^[7] Germany (7:20.19), Canada (7:21.92), and Russia (7:24.37) rounded out the championship finale.^[6]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Australia (AUS) Ian Thorpe (1:46.28) Bill Kirby (1:48.96) Grant Hackett (1:46.30) Michael Klim (1:47.25)	7:08.79	Sydney, Australia	25 August 1999	^[8]
Olympic record	Unified Team (EUN) Dmitry Lepikov (1:49.55) Vladimir Pyshnenko (1:46.58) Veniamin Tayanovich (1:48.99) Yevgeny Sadovyi (1:46.83)	7:11.95	Barcelona, Spain	27 July 1992	^[8]

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Time	Record
September 19	Final	Ian Thorpe (1:46.03) Michael Klim (1:46.40) Todd Pearson (1:47.36) Bill Kirby (1:47.26)	Australia	7:07.05	WR

Results

Heats

^[8]

Rank	Heat	Lane	Nation	Swimmers	Time	Notes
1	2	4	Australia	Grant Hackett (1:50.31) Bill Kirby (1:47.76) Todd Pearson (1:47.68) Daniel Kowalski (1:48.52)	7:14.27	Q
2	1	4	United States	Chad Carvin (1:49.65) Nate Dusing (1:49.44) Jamie Rauch (1:48.94) Klete Keller (1:49.19)	7:17.22	Q
3	1	5	Italy	Andrea Beccari (1:49.30) Klaus Lanzarini (1:49.77) Simone Cercato (1:50.36) Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.26)	7:17.69	Q
4	2	3	Germany	Heiko Hell (1:50.48) Michael Kiedel (1:50.64) Christian Keller (1:49.12) Stefan Herbst (1:49.71)	7:19.95	Q
5	2	6	Netherlands	Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.60) Mark van der Zijden (1:51.18) Johan Kenkhuis (1:50.27) Marcel Wouda (1:49.62)	7:20.67	Q
6	2	5	Great Britain	James Salter (1:49.62) Andrew Clayton (1:51.87) Marc Spackman (1:49.94) Edward Sinclair (1:49.26)	7:20.69	Q
7	1	3	Canada	Mark Johnston (1:50.24) Brian Johns (1:51.19) Mike Mintenko (1:49.79) Rick Say (1:50.23)	7:21.45	Q
8	1	6	Russia	Andrey Kapralov (1:49.52) Aleksey Yegorov (1:52.67) Sergey Lavrenov (1:51.68) Dmitry Chernyshov (1:49.71)	7:23.58	Q
9	2	2	Romania	Dragoș Coman (1:50.25) Cezar Bădiță (1:49.90) Răzvan Florea (1:52.85) Ioan Gherghel (1:51.06)	7:24.06
10	1	1	Hungary	Attila Czene (1:52.66) Zsolt Gáspár (1:51.86) Jácint Simon (1:50.32) Bela Szabados (1:49.64)	7:24.48	NR
11	2	7	Denmark	Jacob Carstensen (1:49.80) Henrik Steen Andersen (1:51.51) Jeppe Nielsen (1:51.98) Dennis Otzen Jensen (1:51.34)	7:24.63
12	1	7	Belarus	Igor Koleda (1:49.44) Pavel Lagoun (1:52.83) Dmitry Koptur (1:51.14) Valeryan Khuroshvili (1:51.42)	7:24.83
13	1	2	Brazil	Edvaldo Silva Filho (1:51.68) Leonardo Costa (1:51.53) Luiz Lima (1:51.81) Rodrigo Castro (1:51.40)	7:26.42
14	2	1	Ukraine	Sergey Fesenko (1:54.11) Igor Snitko (1:52.31) Artem Goncharenko (1:52.98) Rostyslav Svanidze (1:52.76)	7:32.16
15	2	8	Greece	Athanasios Oikonomou (1:52.72) Dimitrios Manganas (1:54.58) Spyridon Bitsakis (1:55.23) Spyridon Gianniotis (1:53.24)	7:35.77
	1	8	Kyrgyzstan	Andrei Pakin Dmitri Kuzmin Aleksandr Shilin Ivan Ivanov	DSQ

Final

Rank	Lane	Nation	Swimmers	Time	Time behind	Notes
	4	Australia	Ian Thorpe (1:46.03) Michael Klim (1:46.40) Todd Pearson (1:47.36) Bill Kirby (1:47.26)	7:07.05		WR
	5	United States	Scott Goldblatt (1:49.66) Josh Davis (1:46.49) Jamie Rauch (1:48.74) Klete Keller (1:47.75)	7:12.64	5.59
	2	Netherlands	Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.89) Johan Kenkhuis (1:49.37) Marcel Wouda (1:48.56) Pieter van den Hoogenband (1:44.88)	7:12.70	5.65	NR
4	3	Italy	Andrea Beccari (1:49.67) Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.41) Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.92) Massimiliano Rosolino (1:45.91)	7:12.91	5.86
5	7	Great Britain	Edward Sinclair (1:49.61) Paul Palmer (1:47.15) Marc Spackman (1:48.85) James Salter (1:47.37)	7:12.98	5.93
6	6	Germany	Stefan Pohl (1:50.83) Christian Keller (1:50.01) Stefan Herbst (1:49.05) Christian Tröger (1:50.30)	7:20.19	13.14
7	1	Canada	Mark Johnston (1:50.44) Mike Mintenko (1:49.94) Rick Say (1:48.71) Yannick Lupien (1:52.83)	7:21.92	14.87
8	8	Russia	Dmitry Chernyshov (1:50.44) Andrey Kapralov (1:51.16) Sergey Lavrenov (1:51.65) Alexei Filipets (1:51.12)	7:24.37	17.32

Related Research Articles

Ian James Thorpe, is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along with fellow swimmer Emma McKeon. With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in his hometown of Sydney.

The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay took place on 17 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.

The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 16 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

The women's 200-metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney.

The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19–20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. There were 73 competitors from 66 nations. Nations have been limited to two swimmers each since the 1984 Games.

The men's 200 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 17–18 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia. There were 51 competitors from 44 nations, with each nation having up to two swimmers.

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 16 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

The men's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

The women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 18–19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 22–23 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event and place at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 20 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

The women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 16 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.

James Magnussen is a retired Australian swimmer and Olympic medallist. He was the 2011 and 2013 100-metre freestyle world champion, and holds the record for the fifth fastest swim in history in the 100-metre freestyle, with a time of 47.10, which until 2016 also stood as the fastest swim in textile swimwear material.

The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 29 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

Heiko Hell is a German former swimmer, who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. He is a nine-time German swimming champion in the 400, 800, and 1500 m freestyle (2000–2004), and also a three-time Olympic finalist. Hell is a member of Hamburg City Swimming Club, and is coached and trained by Dirk Lange.

Karina Helene Muller is a South African former swimmer, who specialised in sprint and middle-distance freestyle events. She represented South Africa in two editions of the Olympic Games, and later captured two silver medals each in sprint freestyle and medley relay at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Tsai Shu-min is a retired Taiwanese swimmer, who specialized in sprint and middle-distance freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and in individual medley. She represented Chinese Taipei in two editions of the Olympic Games, and later earned four medals in swimming, including her first ever gold, at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.

The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 10 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Kyle Chalmers, is an Australian competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 100 metre freestyle, 4×100 metre medley relay, and long course 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay. He is the Oceanian and Australian record holder in the short course 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre freestyle.

References

↑ "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
↑ Longman, Jere (20 September 2000). "Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall". New York Times . Retrieved 8 June 2013.
↑ Morrissey, Rick (20 September 2000). "It's Wet And Wild". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 27 June 2013.
↑ "Aussies rule relays". Sports Illustrated . CNN. 20 September 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
↑ "Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly". ESPN. 19 September 2000. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
1 2 Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 4 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
↑ Lonsbrough, Anita (19 September 2000). "Swimming: Britons denied as Dutchman dominates". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 27 June 2013.
1 2 3 "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 4×200m Freestyle Relay Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000 . LA84 Foundation. pp. 343–344. Retrieved 27 June 2013.

External links

Official Olympic Report

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Swimming_schedule-1] "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.

[2] Longman, Jere (20 September 2000). "Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall". New York Times . Retrieved 8 June 2013.

[3] Morrissey, Rick (20 September 2000). "It's Wet And Wild". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 27 June 2013.

[4] "Aussies rule relays". Sports Illustrated . CNN. 20 September 2000. Retrieved 15 June 2013.

[5] "Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly". ESPN. 19 September 2000. Retrieved 22 June 2013.

[800freerelay-6] 1 2 Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 4 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2013.

[7] Lonsbrough, Anita (19 September 2000). "Swimming: Britons denied as Dutchman dominates". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 27 June 2013.

[records-8] 1 2 3 "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 4×200m Freestyle Relay Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000 . LA84 Foundation. pp. 343–344. Retrieved 27 June 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

Swimming at the 2000 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
v t e