Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | London Aquatics Centre | |||||||||
Dates | July 31, 2012 (heats & final) | |||||||||
Competitors | 84 from 16 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 6:59.70 | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics | ||
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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 men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1]
The U.S. men's team smashed the seven-minute barrier in textile to defend the Olympic title in the event, and most importantly, to keep Michael Phelps' all-time record alive. The American foursome of Ryan Lochte (1:45.15), Conor Dwyer (1:45.23), Ricky Berens (1:45.27), and Phelps (1:44.05) dominated the race from the start to put together a blazing fast finish in 6:59.70. [2] [3] As the Americans defended their Olympic title, Phelps also surpassed Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina to become the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time with a remarkable career tally of nineteen medals (15 golds, 2 silver, and 2 bronze). [4] [5]
France's Amaury Leveaux (1:46.70), Grégory Mallet (1:46.83), Clément Lefert (1:46.00), and Yannick Agnel (1:43.24, the fastest split in the field) trailed behind their newest rivals in the pool by a couple of seconds to take home the silver in 7:02.77. [6] Meanwhile, China's Hao Yun (1:47.12), Li Yunqi (1:46.46), and Jiang Haiqi (1:47.17) struggled to keep their momentum throughout the race before Sun Yang dove into the pool at the final exchange. Sun then produced an astonishing anchor of 1:45.55 to deliver the Chinese team a historic relay bronze medal in 7:06.30, holding off the aggressive German foursome of Paul Biedermann (1:46.15), Dimitri Colupaev (1:46.36), Tim Wallburger (1:47.48), and Clemens Rapp (1:46.60) by 29-hundredths of a second with a fourth-place finish (7:06.59). [7] [8]
Australia's Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:46.13), Kenrick Monk (1:46.67), Ned McKendry (1:47.60), and Ryan Napoleon (1:46.60) finished fifth in 7:07.00, while Great Britain (7:09.33), South Africa (7:09.65), and Hungary (7:13.66) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out a historic finish. [8] [9]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
World record | United States (USA) Michael Phelps (1:44.49) Ricky Berens (1:44.13) David Walters (1:45.47) Ryan Lochte (1:44.46) | 6:58.55 | Rome, Italy | 31 July 2009 | [10] [11] |
Olympic record | United States (USA) Michael Phelps (1:43.31) Ryan Lochte (1:44.28) Ricky Berens (1:46.29) Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68) | 6:58.56 | Beijing, China | 13 August 2008 | [12] |
Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | United States | Ryan Lochte (1:45.15) Conor Dwyer (1:45.23) Ricky Berens (1:45.27) Michael Phelps (1:44.05) | 6:59.70 | |||
5 | France | Amaury Leveaux (1:46.70) Grégory Mallet (1:46.83) Clément Lefert (1:46.00) Yannick Agnel (1:43.24) | 7:02.77 | 3.07 | NR | |
7 | China | Hao Yun (1:47.12) Li Yunqi (1:46.46) Jiang Haiqi (1:47.17) Sun Yang (1:45.55) | 7:06.30 | 6.60 | ||
4 | 3 | Germany | Paul Biedermann (1:46.15) Dimitri Colupaev (1:46.36) Tim Wallburger (1:47.48) Clemens Rapp (1:46.60) | 7:06.59 | 6.89 | |
5 | 6 | Australia | Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:46.13) Kenrick Monk (1:46.67) Ned McKendry (1:47.60) Ryan Napoleon (1:46.60) | 7:07.00 | 7.30 | |
6 | 2 | Great Britain | Robbie Renwick (1:46.93) Ieuan Lloyd (1:47.40) Rob Bale (1:47.45) Ross Davenport (1:47.55) | 7:09.33 | 9.63 | |
7 | 1 | South Africa | Darian Townsend (1:47.25) Sebastien Rousseau (1:47.36) Chad le Clos (1:47.15) Jean Basson (1:47.89) | 7:09.65 | 9.95 | |
8 | 8 | Hungary | Dominik Kozma (1:46.94) László Cseh (1:48.06) Péter Bernek (1:48.74) Gergő Kis (1:49.92) | 7:13.66 | 13.96 |
Ryan Steven Lochte is an American former competition swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. He is the third-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by total number of medals, behind only Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky. Lochte's seven individual Olympic medals rank second in history in men's swimming, tied for second among all Olympic swimmers. He currently holds the world records in the 200-meter individual medley. As part of the American teams, he also holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle (mixed) relay.
The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 12–13 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.
Richard Berens is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and current world record-holder. As a member of the U.S. national team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He competed in the 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter freestyle relay events, as well as the individual 200-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Michael Fred Phelps II is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dityatin, by winning six gold and two bronze medals. Four years later, when he won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, he broke fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four gold and two silver medals, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he won five gold medals and one silver. This made him the most successful athlete of the Games for the fourth Olympics in a row.
Yannick Agnel is a French former competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle events, and is a three-time Olympic medalist. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won gold in the 200-meter freestyle, gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and silver in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He is the current world record holder in the 400-meter freestyle, the European record holder in the 800-meter freestyle, and the national record holder in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle.
Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos, OIS is a South African competitive swimmer who is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion. He is the African record, Commonwealth record, and South African record holder in the short course and long course 200-metre butterfly and the short course 100-metre butterfly. He also holds the African records and South African records in the long course 200-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly, and the short course 100-metre freestyle. Formerly, he was a world record holder in the short course 100-metre butterfly and 200-metre butterfly.
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