Swimming at the 2012 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 XXX Olympiad
Venue London Aquatics Centre
Dates28 July 2012
Competitors84 from 16 nations
Winning time3:33.15 OR
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svgFlag of Australia.svg  Australia  (AUS)
Alicia Coutts, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie, Melanie Schlanger, Emily Seebohm*, Yolane Kukla*, Lisbeth Trickett*
Silver medal icon.svgFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  (NED)
Inge Dekker, Marleen Veldhuis, Femke Heemskerk, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Hinkelien Schreuder*
Bronze medal icon.svg

Flag of the United States.svg  United States  (USA)
Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, Allison Schmitt, Amanda Weir*, Natalie Coughlin*


*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats.
  2008
2016  

The women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 28 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom. [1]

The Australian women's team fought off an early lead by their American rivals and overhauled the field down the stretch to recapture the Olympic freestyle relay title they last held in 2004. The foursome of Alicia Coutts (53.90), Cate Campbell (53.19), Brittany Elmslie (53.41), and Melanie Schlanger (52.65) put together a blazing fast finish with a new Olympic record in 3:33.15. [2] [3]

The Netherlands nearly pulled a worst-to-first effort, building from an eighth-place turn by Inge Dekker (54.67), fifth by Marleen Veldhuis (53.80), and third by Femke Heemskerk (53.39), until they handed Ranomi Kromowidjojo the anchor duties on the final exchange. She delivered a fastest freestyle split in the field with an anchor of 51.93 to race against the Americans for the silver in 3:33.79, but finished just 0.64 seconds off the pace posted by the Australians. [4] Meanwhile, the U.S. team got off an early lead from Missy Franklin (53.52) and Jessica Hardy (53.53), but slipped through the final stretches from Lia Neal (53.65) and Allison Schmitt (53.54) to settle for the bronze in an American record of 3:34.24. [5] Building a new milestone, Neal became the first ever African-American female to swim in an Olympic final, while Natalie Coughlin, who competed earlier in the relay prelims, picked up her twelfth career medal to share a three-way tie with Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson as the most decorated female Olympic swimmers of all time. [6] [7]

China (3:36.75), Great Britain (3:37.02), Denmark (3:37.45), and Japan (3:37.96) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out the championship finale, while Sweden was disqualified from the race because of an early relay takeoff by anchor Gabriella Fagundez. [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 (53.61)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.30)
Femke Heemskerk (53.03)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.78)
3:31.72 Rome, Italy 26 July 2009 [8] [9]
Olympic recordFlag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands  (NED)
Inge Dekker (54.37)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)
Femke Heemskerk (53.42)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)
3:33.76 Beijing, China 10 August 2008 [10]

The following records were established during the competition:

DateEventNameNationTimeRecord
July 28Final Alicia Coutts (53.90)
Cate Campbell (53.19)
Brittany Elmslie (53.41)
Melanie Schlanger (52.65)
Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:33.15 OR

Results

Heats

[11]

RankHeatLaneNationSwimmersTimeNotes
123Flag of Australia.svg  Australia Emily Seebohm (54.24)
Brittany Elmslie (53.41)
Yolane Kukla (54.61)
Lisbeth Trickett (54.08)
3:36.34Q
214Flag of the United States.svg  United States Lia Neal (54.15)
Amanda Weir (54.37)
Natalie Coughlin (53.93)
Allison Schmitt (54.08)
3:36.53Q
324Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Marleen Veldhuis (54.73)
Inge Dekker (53.79)
Hinkelien Schreuder (55.62)
Femke Heemskerk (53.62)
3:37.76Q
416Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Tang Yi (53.86)
Qiu Yuhan (54.85)
Wang Haibing (54.14)
Wang Shijia (55.06)
3:37.91Q
515Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Haruka Ueda (54.22)
Yayoi Matsumoto (54.23)
Miki Uchida (54.47)
Hanae Ito (55.14)
3:38.06Q, NR
622Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark Pernille Blume (54.44)
Mie Nielsen (54.49)
Lotte Friis (55.97)
Jeanette Ottesen Gray (53.19)
3:38.09Q, NR
712Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Amy Smith (54.29)
Jess Lloyd (54.53)
Caitlin McClatchey (54.64)
Rebecca Turner (54.75)
3:38.21Q
13Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Sarah Sjöström (54.31)
Michelle Coleman (54.14)
Ida Marko-Varga (54.57)
Gabriella Fagundez (55.19)
Q
925Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Britta Steffen (54.43)
Silke Lippok (55.30)
Lisa Vitting (54.77)
Daniela Schreiber (54.66)
3:39.16
1017Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Veronika Popova (54.30)
Nataliya Lovtsova (55.00)
Viktoriya Andreyeva (55.27)
Margarita Nesterova (55.02)
3:39.59
1126Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Victoria Poon (54.67)
Julia Wilkinson (54.38)
Samantha Cheverton (54.93)
Heather MacLean (55.62)
3:39.60
1227Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Alice Mizzau (55.17)
Federica Pellegrini (54.28)
Laura Letrari (55.74)
Erika Ferraioli (54.55)
3:39.74 NR
1318Flag of Belarus (1995-2012).svg  Belarus Aliaksandra Herasimenia (53.85)
Sviatlana Khakhlova (54.96)
Aksana Dziamidava (55.94)
Yuliya Khitraya (55.92)
3:40.67 NR
1421Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Natasha Hind (55.93)
Penelope Marshall (55.82)
Amaka Gessler (55.77)
Hayley Palmer (55.03)
3:42.55
1511Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary Ágnes Mutina (56.05)
Evelyn Verrasztó (55.80)
Éva Risztov (57.81)
Eszter Dara (55.13)
3:44.79
1628Flag of Greece.svg  Greece Theodora Drakou (55.42)
Nery Mantey Niangkouara (55.52)
Theodora Giareni (57.26)
Kristel Vourna (57.35)
3:45.55

Final

[12]

RankLaneNationSwimmersTimeTime BehindNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4Flag of Australia.svg  Australia Alicia Coutts (53.90)
Cate Campbell (53.19)
Brittany Elmslie (53.41)
Melanie Schlanger (52.65)
3:33.15 OR
Silver medal icon.svg3Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands Inge Dekker (54.67)
Marleen Veldhuis (53.80)
Femke Heemskerk (53.39)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (51.93)
3:33.790.64
Bronze medal icon.svg5Flag of the United States.svg  United States Missy Franklin (53.52)
Jessica Hardy (53.53)
Lia Neal (53.65)
Allison Schmitt (53.54)
3:34.241.09 AM , NR
46Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Tang Yi (53.58)
Qiu Yuhan (54.49)
Wang Haibing (54.03)
Pang Jiaying (54.65)
3:36.753.60
58Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Amy Smith (54.27)
Francesca Halsall (53.29)
Jess Lloyd (54.65)
Caitlin McClatchey (54.81)
3:37.023.87
67Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark Pernille Blume (54.52)
Mie Nielsen (54.04)
Lotte Friis (55.65)
Jeanette Ottesen Gray (53.24)
3:37.454.30 NR
72Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Haruka Ueda (54.34)
Yayoi Matsumoto (54.52)
Miki Uchida (54.43)
Hanae Ito (54.67)
3:37.964.81 NR
1Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Michelle Coleman (54.57)
Sarah Sjöström (53.91)
Ida Marko-Varga (55.01)
Gabriella Fagundez
DSQ

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