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.[1]
| 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 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
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.[2][3]
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.[4][5] 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.[6][7][8]
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.[9] 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.[8]
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 | [10] |
| 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
