Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay

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Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue Beijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 9, 2008 (heats)
August 10, 2008 (final)
Competitors67 from 16 nations
Winning time3:33.76 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svgFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  (NED)
Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk, Marleen Veldhuis, Hinkelien Schreuder*, Manon van Rooijen*
Silver medal icon.svgFlag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)
Natalie Coughlin, Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce, Dara Torres, Emily Silver*, Julia Smit*
Bronze medal icon.svg

Flag of Australia.svg  Australia  (AUS)
Cate Campbell, Alice Mills, Melanie Schlanger, Lisbeth Trickett, Shayne Reese*


*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats.
  2004
2012  

The women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. [1]

The Dutch women reinforced their claim to become the strongest team in the world with a magnificent triumph over the Aussies and the Americans in the event. Pulling nearly a worst-to-first effort from a seventh-place turn by Inge Dekker (54.37), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39) and Femke Heemskerk (53.42) moved the team further into the top spot, until they handed Marleen Veldhuis the anchor duties on the final exchange to cruise the field down the stretch in 52.58 and to snatch the freestyle relay title with an Olympic record of 3:33.76. [2] [3]

Competing in her fifth Olympics since 1984, U.S. legend Dara Torres anchored her team with a remarkable split of 52.44, the second-fastest of all time, to deliver the foursome of Natalie Coughlin (54.00), Lacey Nymeyer (53.91), and Kara Lynn Joyce (53.98) a silver medal in a new American record of 3:34.33. [4] [5] Meanwhile, Australia's Cate Campbell (54.43), Alice Mills (54.43), Melanie Schlanger (53.85), and Lisbeth Trickett (52.34) powered home with a bronze in an Oceanian record of 3:35.05, holding off the fast-pacing Chinese squad of Zhu Yingwen (54.12), Tang Yi (54.19), Xu Yanwei (54.64), and Pang Jiaying (52.69) by 59-hundredths of a second, a superb Asian standard of 3:35.64. [6] [7]

Britta Steffen shaved off Inge de Bruijn's 2000 Olympic record by 0.39 seconds with a blazing split of 53.38 to take an early lead for the Germans, but the other threesome of Meike Freitag (54.30), Daniela Götz (55.34), and Antje Buschschulte (53.83) could not maintain their pace and thereby occupied the fifth spot in 3:36.85. [8] France (3:37.68), Great Britain (3:38.18), and Canada (3:38.32) picked up the remaining places to complete a close finish. [7]

Records

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

World recordFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  (NED)
Inge Dekker (53.77)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.61)
Femke Heemskerk (53.62)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.62)
3:33.62 Eindhoven, Netherlands 18 March 2008 [9]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Australia  (AUS)
Alice Mills (54.75)
Lisbeth Lenton (53.57)
Petria Thomas (54.67)
Jodie Henry (52.95)
3:35.94 Athens, Greece 14 August 2004-

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

DateEventNameNationalityTimeRecord
August 10Final Inge Dekker (54.37)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)
Femke Heemskerk (53.42)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 3:33.76 OR

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNationalityNameTimeNotes
113Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Zhu Yingwen (54.53)
Tang Yi (54.29)
Xu Yanwei (55.13)
Pang Jiaying (52.83)
3:36.78Q, AS
215Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Meike Freitag (54.53)
Antje Buschschulte (54.29)
Daniela Götz (54.54)
Britta Steffen (54.16)
3:37.52Q
325Flag of the United States.svg  United States Kara Lynn Joyce (54.13)
Julia Smit (54.73)
Emily Silver (54.81)
Lacey Nymeyer (53.86)
3:37.53Q
424Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Ranomi Kromowidjojo (54.41)
Hinkelien Schreuder (55.31)
Femke Heemskerk (53.58)
Manon van Rooijen (54.31)
3:37.61Q
526Flag of France.svg  France Céline Couderc (53.97)
Hanna Shcherba-Lorgeril (54.95)
Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (54.72)
Alena Popchanka (54.12)
3:37.76Q
614Flag of Australia.svg  Australia Cate Campbell (54.65)
Alice Mills (54.55)
Melanie Schlanger (54.69)
Shayne Reese (53.92)
3:37.81Q
722Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Julia Wilkinson (54.48)
Erica Morningstar (54.38)
Geneviève Saumur (55.11)
Audrey Lacroix (54.85)
3:38.82Q
816Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Francesca Halsall (54.36)
Caitlin McClatchey (54.42)
Julia Beckett (55.64)
Melanie Marshall (54.76)
3:39.18Q, NR
911Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Haruka Ueda (55.13)
Misaki Yamaguchi (54.14)
Asami Kitagawa (54.47)
Maki Mita (55.51)
3:39.25 NR
1018Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Erika Ferraioli (56.10)
Federica Pellegrini (53.42)
Maria Laura Simonetto (55.97)
Cristina Chiuso (54.93)
3:40.42
1123Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Ida Marko-Varga (55.04)
Therese Alshammar (54.80)
Anna-Karin Kammerling (55.06)
Claire Hedenskog (55.62)
3:40.52
1212Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Anastasia Aksenova (56.57)
Yelena Sokolova (55.20)
Daria Belyakina (55.23)
Svetlana Karpeeva (55.52)
3:42.52
1317Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil Tatiana Barbosa (55.08)
Flavia Cazziolato (56.13)
Michelle Lenhardt (55.90)
Monique Ferreira (55.74)
3:42.85
1421Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine Darya Stepanyuk (55.79)
Kateryna Dikidzhi (55.44)
Ganna Dzerkal (56.95)
Nataliya Khudyakova (56.54)
3:44.72
1527Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa Melissa Corfe (55.93)
Wendy Trott (57.83)
Mandy Loots (58.31)
Kathryn Meaklim (59.07)
3:51.14
28Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus DNS

Final

RankLaneNationalityNamesTimeTime behindNotes
Gold medal icon.svg6Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Inge Dekker (54.37)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)
Femke Heemskerk (53.42)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)
3:33.76 OR
Silver medal icon.svg3Flag of the United States.svg  United States Natalie Coughlin (54.00)
Lacey Nymeyer (53.91)
Kara Lynn Joyce (53.98)
Dara Torres (52.44)
3:34.330.57 AM
Bronze medal icon.svg7Flag of Australia.svg  Australia Cate Campbell (54.43)
Alice Mills (54.43)
Melanie Schlanger (53.85)
Lisbeth Trickett (52.34)
3:35.051.29 OC
44Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Zhu Yingwen (54.12)
Tang Yi (54.19)
Xu Yanwei (54.64)
Pang Jiaying (52.69)
3:35.641.88 AS
55Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Britta Steffen (53.38) OR
Meike Freitag (54.30)
Daniela Götz (55.34)
Antje Buschschulte (53.83)
3:36.853.09
62Flag of France.svg  France Céline Couderc (54.32)
Alena Popchanka (54.54)
Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (54.79)
Malia Metella (54.03)
3:37.683.92
78Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Francesca Halsall (53.81) NR
Caitlin McClatchey (54.48)
Jessica Sylvester (55.34)
Melanie Marshall (54.55)
3:38.184.42 NR
81Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Julia Wilkinson (54.33)
Erica Morningstar (54.35)
Geneviève Saumur (54.68)
Audrey Lacroix (54.96)
3:38.324.56

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