| | Event type

4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Women

Date	13 – 14 August 2008
Status	Olympic
Location	Beijing Guojia Youyong Zhongxin, Beijing Aolinpike Gongyuan, Beijing
Participants	75 from 16 countries

Traditionally this event has been the domain of American victories. Since its’ introduction at the 1996 Olympic Games the USA had won all three editions and never by less than a clear second. Here the US were still favourites but the relative underperformance of some of their star names had given hope to the rest of the world. The heats saw a few surprises with world championship silver medalists Germany and potential medal winners Great Britain, who elected to rest some of their best swimmers, eliminated.

Although France led after the first leg of the final, it was the performance of double medley champion Steph Rice who was chasing her 3rd gold of the Games that proved decisive, and without a weak link in the chain the Australians pulled away from the field to victory. The winning team shattered the world record by nearly six seconds with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams also ducking well below the record as well. After a disappointing Olympic campaign Katie Hoff finally found her best form with a blistering anchor leg but it still left the USA tantalizingly short of the Chinese team who won a surprising silver medal.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	Australia	AUS	7:55.10 (3 h2)	7:44.31 (1)	Gold
	Steph Rice		–	–
	Bronte Barratt		–	–
	Kylie Palmer		–	–
	Linda MacKenzie		–	–
	Felicity Galvez		–	–
	Angie Bainbridge		–	–
	Mel Schlanger		–	–
	Lara Davenport		–	–
2	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:53.77 (2 h1)	7:45.93 (2)	Silver
	Yang Yu		–	–
	Zhu Qianwei		–	–
	Tan Miao		–	–
	Pang Jiaying		–	–
	Tang Jingzhi		–	–
3	United States	USA	7:52.43 (1 h2)	7:46.33 (3)	Bronze
	Allison Schmitt		–	–
	Natalie Coughlin		–	–
	Caroline Burckle		–	–
	Katie Hoff		–	–
	Christine Marshall		–	–
	Kim Vandenberg		–	–
	Julia Smit		–	–
4	Italy	ITA	7:53.38 (2 h2)	7:49.76 (4)
	Renata Spagnolo		–	–
	Alessia Filippi		–	–
	Flavia Zoccari		–	–
	Federica Pellegrini		–	–
	Alice Carpanese		–	–
5	France	FRA	7:50.37 (1 h1)	7:50.66 (5)
	Coralie Balmy		–	–
	Ophélie Etienne		–	–
	Aurore Mongel		–	–
	Camille Muffat		–	–
	Alena Popchanka		–	–
	Céline Couderc		–	–
6	Hungary	HUN	7:55.26 (4 h2)	7:55.53 (6)
	Ágnes Mutina		–	–
	Evelyn Verrasztó		–	–
	Eszter Dara		–	–
	Zsu Jakabos		–	–
7	Japan	JPN	7:55.63 (5 h2)	7:57.56 (7)
	Haruka Ueda		–	–
	Misaki Yamaguchi		–	–
	Maki Mita		–	–
	Emi Takanabe		–	–
8	Sweden	SWE	7:53.83 (3 h1)	7:59.83 (8)
	Josefin Lillhage		–	–
	Gabriella Fagundez		–	–
	Ida Marko-Varga		–	–
	Petra Granlund		–	–
9	Great Britain	GBR	7:56.16 (6 h2)	–
	Jo Jackson		–	–
	Melanie Marshall		–	–
	Hannah Miley		–	–
	Fran Halsall		–	–
10	Canada	CAN	7:56.26 (4 h1)	–
	Stephanie Horner		–	–
	Geneviève Saumur		–	–
	Erica Morningstar		–	–
	Julia Wilkinson		–	–
11	Netherlands	NED	7:56.60 (5 h1)	–
	Femke Heemskerk		–	–
	Ranomi Kromowidjojo		–	–
	Saskia de Jonge		–	–
	Manon van Rooijen		–	–
12	Germany	GER	7:58.11 (6 h1)	–
	Meike Freitag		–	–
	Petra Dallmann		–	–
	Daniela Samulski		–	–
	Annika Lurz		–	–
13	Denmark	DEN	8:00.81 (7 h2)	–
	Julie Hjorth-Hansen		–	–
	Micha Østergaard		–	–
	Louise Jansen		–	–
	Lotte Friis		–	–
14	Spain	ESP	8:00.90 (7 h1)	–
	Melani Costa		–	–
	María Fuster		–	–
	Noemí Feliz		–	–
	Arantxa Ramos		–	–
15	Poland	POL	8:07.40 (8 h1)	–
	Paulina Barzycka		–	–
	Katarzyna Wilk		–	–
	Karolina Szczepaniak		–	–
	Kasia Baranowska		–	–
DQ	New Zealand	NZL	– (DQ h2)	–
	Helen Norfolk		–	–
	Lauren Boyle		–	–
	Hayley Palmer		–	–
	Tash Hind		–	–

Round One

Date	13 August 2008
Format	Fastest 8 teams advanced to the final round.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	4	France	FRA	7:50.37	QOR
2	4	United States	USA	7:52.43	Q
3	3	Italy	ITA	7:53.38	Q
4	2	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:53.77	Q
5	6	Sweden	SWE	7:53.83	Q
6	6	Australia	AUS	7:55.10	Q
7	7	Hungary	HUN	7:55.26	Q
8	2	Japan	JPN	7:55.63	Q
9	5	Great Britain	GBR	7:56.16
10	1	Canada	CAN	7:56.26
11	3	Netherlands	NED	7:56.60
12	5	Germany	GER	7:58.11
13	1	Denmark	DEN	8:00.81
14	7	Spain	ESP	8:00.90
15	8	Poland	POL	8:07.40
DQ	8	New Zealand	NZL	–		1

Heat #1

Time	20:12

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	France	FRA	7:50.37	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	QOR
Lead-off	–	Alena Popchanka		–	0.74	27.74	57.86	1:28.31	1:58.27 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Céline Couderc		–	0.36	27.58	57.47	1:28.20	1:58.92 (4)	3:57.19 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Camille Muffat		–	-0.03	26.46	56.27	1:26.57	1:57.32 (1)	5:54.51 (1)
Anchor	–	Coralie Balmy		–	0.16	27.23	57.03	1:27.12	1:55.86 (1)	– (–)
2	2	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:53.77	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Yang Yu		–	0.72	27.49	57.40	1:27.86	1:57.49 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Tan Miao		–	0.34	27.92	58.63	1:29.12	1:58.84 (3)	3:56.33 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Tang Jingzhi		–	0.41	27.07	57.94	1:29.27	2:00.20 (4)	5:56.53 (3)
Anchor	–	Zhu Qianwei		–	0.31	27.52	57.48	1:27.96	1:57.24 (2)	– (–)
3	6	Sweden	SWE	7:53.83	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Gabriella Fagundez		–	0.84	28.01	58.28	1:28.50	1:58.43 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ida Marko-Varga		–	0.36	27.41	57.89	1:28.12	1:58.40 (2)	3:56.83 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Petra Granlund		–	0.25	27.88	58.22	1:28.94	1:59.67 (2)	5:56.50 (2)
Anchor	–	Josefin Lillhage		–	0.33	27.45	57.27	1:27.44	1:57.33 (3)	– (–)
4	1	Canada	CAN	7:56.26	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Stephanie Horner		–	0.77	28.14	57.45	1:27.36	1:58.00 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Geneviève Saumur		–	0.20	27.56	58.26	1:28.91	1:59.23 (5)	3:57.23 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Erica Morningstar		–	0.29	26.97	57.45	1:29.00	2:00.91 (6)	5:58.14 (5)
Anchor	–	Julia Wilkinson		–	0.34	27.65	57.59	1:28.18	1:58.12 (4)	– (–)
5	3	Netherlands	NED	7:56.60	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Femke Heemskerk		–	0.89	27.51	57.39	1:27.20	1:58.29 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ranomi Kromowidjojo		–	0.21	27.12	57.61	1:28.02	1:58.29 (1)	3:56.58 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Saskia de Jonge		–	0.18	26.80	57.45	1:28.72	2:00.71 (5)	5:57.29 (4)
Anchor	–	Manon van Rooijen		–	0.49	27.63	57.34	1:28.12	1:59.31 (6)	– (–)
6	5	Germany	GER	7:58.11	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Meike Freitag		–	0.78	27.67	58.02	1:28.11	1:58.09 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Petra Dallmann		–	0.35	27.99	58.56	1:29.74	1:59.55 (6)	3:57.64 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Daniela Samulski		–	0.13	27.14	57.95	1:30.04	2:01.67 (7)	5:59.31 (6)
Anchor	–	Annika Lurz		–	0.28	27.32	57.01	1:27.68	1:58.80 (5)	– (–)
7	7	Spain	ESP	8:00.90	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Melani Costa		–	0.85	28.47	59.05	1:30.21	2:00.92 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	María Fuster		–	0.28	27.76	58.20	1:29.23	2:00.00 (7)	4:00.92 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Noemí Feliz		–	0.16	27.48	57.82	1:29.00	1:59.77 (3)	6:00.69 (7)
Anchor	–	Arantxa Ramos		–	0.00	28.70	59.01	1:29.94	2:00.21 (7)	– (–)
8	8	Poland	POL	8:07.40	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Paulina Barzycka		–	0.89	28.62	59.18	1:29.94	2:00.99 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Katarzyna Wilk		–	0.26	27.78	58.84	1:30.61	2:02.78 (8)	4:03.77 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Karolina Szczepaniak		–	0.26	28.59	59.98	1:31.06	2:01.94 (8)	6:05.71 (8)
Anchor	–	Kasia Baranowska		–	0.40	28.08	58.73	1:30.31	2:01.69 (8)	– (–)

Heat #2

Time	20:23

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	United States	USA	7:52.43	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Caroline Burckle		–	0.77	27.95	57.56	1:27.80	1:57.86 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Christine Marshall		–	0.38	27.22	57.06	1:27.49	1:58.58 (6)	3:56.44 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Kim Vandenberg		–	0.25	27.80	58.13	1:28.42	1:58.31 (1)	5:54.75 (1)
Anchor	–	Julia Smit		–	0.08	27.44	57.87	1:28.12	1:57.68 (2)	– (–)
2	3	Italy	ITA	7:53.38	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Renata Spagnolo		–	0.73	27.91	57.98	1:28.31	1:58.91 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Flavia Zoccari		–	0.35	27.85	57.98	1:28.55	1:58.88 (7)	3:57.79 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Alice Carpanese		–	0.22	27.36	57.48	1:28.63	1:59.50 (2)	5:57.29 (5)
Anchor	–	Federica Pellegrini		–	0.44	26.83	56.04	1:26.12	1:56.09 (1)	– (–)
3	6	Australia	AUS	7:55.10	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Felicity Galvez		–	0.73	27.52	57.16	1:27.82	1:58.00 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Angie Bainbridge		–	0.28	26.95	56.63	1:27.35	1:58.17 (4)	3:56.17 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Mel Schlanger		–	0.30	28.32	58.82	1:29.50	2:00.99 (7)	5:57.16 (4)
Anchor	–	Lara Davenport		–	0.28	27.79	57.85	1:27.85	1:57.94 (3)	– (–)
4	7	Hungary	HUN	7:55.26	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Ágnes Mutina		–	0.66	27.39	57.05	1:27.87	1:59.42 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Evelyn Verrasztó		–	0.34	26.48	55.78	1:26.40	1:56.92 (1)	3:56.34 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Eszter Dara		–	0.37	26.57	56.72	1:28.22	2:00.45 (6)	5:56.79 (3)
Anchor	–	Zsu Jakabos		–	0.15	27.43	57.24	1:28.12	1:58.47 (5)	– (–)
5	2	Japan	JPN	7:55.63	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Haruka Ueda		–	0.85	27.67	57.59	1:27.87	1:58.09 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Misaki Yamaguchi		–	0.01	27.13	57.24	1:27.70	1:57.93 (2)	3:56.02 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Emi Takanabe		–	0.17	28.16	58.98	1:30.58	2:01.28 (8)	5:57.30 (6)
Anchor	–	Maki Mita		–	0.09	27.55	57.67	1:28.04	1:58.33 (4)	– (–)
6	5	Great Britain	GBR	7:56.16	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Jo Jackson		–	0.73	27.73	57.21	1:27.62	1:57.70 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Melanie Marshall		–	0.33	27.18	57.29	1:28.01	1:58.44 (5)	3:56.14 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Hannah Miley		–	0.30	28.14	58.65	1:29.55	1:59.95 (4)	5:56.09 (2)
Anchor	–	Fran Halsall		–	0.44	27.82	57.69	1:28.77	2:00.07 (7)	– (–)
7	1	Denmark	DEN	8:00.81	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Julie Hjorth-Hansen		–	0.79	28.17	57.97	1:28.46	1:59.16 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Micha Østergaard		–	0.18	27.79	58.63	1:30.27	2:01.67 (8)	4:00.83 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Louise Jansen		–	0.23	27.88	58.51	1:29.60	2:00.31 (5)	6:01.14 (8)
Anchor	–	Lotte Friis		–	0.26	27.47	57.91	1:29.12	1:59.67 (6)	– (–)
DQ	8	New Zealand	NZL	–	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)		2
Lead-off	–	Helen Norfolk		–	[0.79]	[27.88]	[57.29]	[1:28.18]	[2:00.24] ([8])	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Lauren Boyle		–	[0.26]	[27.67]	[57.49]	[1:27.86]	[1:58.01] ([3])	[3:58.25] ([7])
3rd Leg	–	Hayley Palmer		–	[0.45]	[27.59]	[57.70]	[1:28.16]	[1:59.92] ([3])	[5:58.17] ([7])
Anchor	–	Tash Hind		–	[-0.04]	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	14 August 2008 — 11:32

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 m Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	7	Australia	AUS	7:44.31	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	WR
Lead-off	–	Steph Rice		–	0.87	27.45	56.98	1:26.94	1:56.60 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Bronte Barratt		–	0.42	27.37	56.89	1:26.65	1:56.58 (1)	3:53.18 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Kylie Palmer		–	0.06	26.54	55.80	1:25.60	1:55.22 (1)	5:48.40 (1)
Anchor	–	Linda MacKenzie		–	0.09	27.07	56.82	1:26.71	1:55.91 (4)	– (–)
2	6	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:45.93	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Yang Yu		–	0.73	27.45	57.01	1:27.35	1:56.79 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Zhu Qianwei		–	0.29	27.49	57.38	1:27.66	1:56.64 (2)	3:53.43 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Tan Miao		–	0.34	27.51	57.90	1:28.20	1:58.11 (3)	5:51.54 (2)
Anchor	–	Pang Jiaying		–	0.16	25.99	55.28	1:24.96	1:54.39 (1)	– (–)
3	5	United States	USA	7:46.33	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Allison Schmitt		–	0.71	27.23	56.59	1:27.06	1:57.71 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Natalie Coughlin		–	0.24	27.31	56.97	1:27.02	1:57.19 (4)	3:54.90 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Caroline Burckle		–	0.20	27.17	56.67	1:26.77	1:56.70 (2)	5:51.60 (3)
Anchor	–	Katie Hoff		–	0.24	26.61	55.61	1:25.04	1:54.73 (2)	– (–)
4	3	Italy	ITA	7:49.76	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Renata Spagnolo		–	0.74	27.84	57.57	1:27.66	1:58.31 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alessia Filippi		–	0.22	26.86	56.35	1:26.46	1:56.68 (3)	3:54.99 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Flavia Zoccari		–	0.32	27.53	57.45	1:28.24	1:59.80 (7)	5:54.79 (5)
Anchor	–	Federica Pellegrini		–	0.52	26.61	55.58	1:25.61	1:54.97 (3)	– (–)
5	4	France	FRA	7:50.66	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Coralie Balmy		–	0.83	27.55	56.89	1:27.01	1:56.57 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ophélie Etienne		–	0.41	28.03	58.05	1:28.12	1:57.95 (6)	3:54.52 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Aurore Mongel		–	0.32	28.28	58.58	1:28.76	1:58.62 (5)	5:53.14 (4)
Anchor	–	Camille Muffat		–	0.12	27.16	57.00	1:27.38	1:57.52 (5)	– (–)
6	1	Hungary	HUN	7:55.53	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ágnes Mutina		–	0.69	28.44	58.43	1:28.67	1:58.17 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Evelyn Verrasztó		–	0.49	26.81	56.40	1:27.32	1:57.80 (5)	3:55.97 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Eszter Dara		–	0.30	26.65	56.93	1:28.44	2:00.39 (8)	5:56.36 (7)
Anchor	–	Zsu Jakabos		–	0.31	27.16	56.63	1:27.79	1:59.17 (6)	– (–)
7	8	Japan	JPN	7:57.56	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Haruka Ueda		–	0.83	27.75	57.50	1:27.92	1:58.44 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Misaki Yamaguchi		–	0.08	27.20	57.18	1:27.47	1:58.51 (7)	3:56.95 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Maki Mita		–	0.05	27.66	57.88	1:28.54	1:58.78 (6)	5:55.73 (6)
Anchor	–	Emi Takanabe		–	0.12	28.07	59.12	1:30.68	2:01.83 (8)	– (–)
8	2	Sweden	SWE	7:59.83	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Josefin Lillhage		–	0.82	28.44	58.49	1:29.24	2:00.48 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Gabriella Fagundez		–	0.42	27.31	57.72	1:28.76	2:00.09 (8)	4:00.57 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Ida Marko-Varga		–	0.17	26.97	56.88	1:27.73	1:58.58 (4)	5:59.15 (8)
Anchor	–	Petra Granlund		–	0.20	27.62	58.06	1:29.35	2:00.68 (7)	– (–)