| | Event type

4 x 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Women

Date	27 July 1980
Status	Olympic
Location	Plavatelny basseyn, Sportivny kompleks Olimpiysky, Moskva
Participants	39 from 9 countries

The only question was how big the margin would be in this race for the East German women. They had lost this race in 1976 to the United States in a big upset, and the USA also prevailed at the World Championships, in world record time. But even with the Americans in Moscow, the GDR would have been favored, given the strength of their team. In the end they won by over six seconds, bettering the world record as well. Sweden and the Netherlands placed second and third, respectively, both setting national records. The Soviet Union was disqualified in the heats for an improper changeover.

Pos	Swimmer	NOC	R1	Final
1	East Germany	GDR	3:45.19 (1 h2)	3:42.71 (1)	Gold
	Barbara Krause • Caren Metschuck • Ines Diers • Sarina Hülsenbeck • Carmela Schmidt
2	Sweden	SWE	3:52.22 (2 h1)	3:48.93 (2)	Silver
	Carina Ljungdahl • Tina Gustafsson • Agneta Mårtensson • Agneta Eriksson • Birgitta Jönsson • Helena Peterson
3	Netherlands	NED	3:51.30 (1 h1)	3:49.51 (3)	Bronze
	Conny van Bentum • Wilma van Velsen • Reggie de Jong • Annelies Maas
4	Great Britain	GBR	3:53.08 (3 h1)	3:51.71 (4)
	Sharron Davies • Kaye Lovatt • Jackie Willmott • June Croft • Susan Cooper (DNS)
5	Australia	AUS	3:56.24 (2 h2)	3:54.16 (5)
	Lisa Curry • Karen Van de Graaf • Rosemary Brown • Michele Pearson
6	Mexico	MEX	3:56.87 (4 h1)	3:55.41 (6)
	Isabel Reuss • Dagmar Erdman • Teresa Rivera • Helen Plaschinski
7	Bulgaria	BUL	3:59.65 (5 h1)	3:56.34 (7)
	Dobrinka Mincheva • Rumyana Dobreva • Ani Kostova • Sonya Dangalakova • Boryana Dimitrova (DNS)
8	Spain	ESP	3:58.33 (3 h2)	3:58.73 (8)
	Natalia Mas • Margarita Armengol • Laura Flaque • Gloria Casado
DQ	Soviet Union	URS	– (DQ h2)	–
	Irina Gerasimova • Nataliya Strunnikova • Larisa Tsaryova • Olga Klevakina • Irina Aksyonova (DNS) • Yuliya Bogdanova (DNS) • Larisa Gorchakova (DNS)

Round One (27 July 1980 — 11:00)

Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	2	Netherlands	NED		3:51.30		Q
		Conny van Bentum		–	57.99	57.99 (3)
		Wilma van Velsen		–	57.40	1:55.39 (1)
		Reggie de Jong		–	58.34	2:53.73 (1)
		Annelies Maas		–	57.57	3:51.30 (1)
2	4	Sweden	SWE		3:52.22		Q
		Carina Ljungdahl		–	57.85	57.85 (2)
		Birgitta Jönsson		–	58.44	1:56.29 (3)
		Helena Peterson		–	58.58	2:54.87 (3)
		Tina Gustafsson		–	57.35	3:52.22 (2)
3	5	Great Britain	GBR		3:53.08		Q
		June Croft		–	57.30	57.30 (1)
		Kaye Lovatt		–	58.47	1:55.77 (2)
		Jackie Willmott		–	58.99	2:54.76 (2)
		Sharron Davies		–	58.32	3:53.08 (3)
4	3	Mexico	MEX		3:56.87		Q
		Isabel Reuss		–	58.86	58.86 (4)
		Dagmar Erdman		–	1:00.31	1:59.17 (5)
		Teresa Rivera		–	58.37	2:57.54 (4)
		Helen Plaschinski		–	59.33	3:56.87 (4)
5	6	Bulgaria	BUL		3:59.65		Q
		Sonya Dangalakova		–	59.38	59.38 (5)
		Rumyana Dobreva		–	59.75	1:59.13 (4)
		Ani Kostova		–	1:01.01	3:00.14 (5)
		Dobrinka Mincheva		–	59.51	3:59.65 (5)

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	4	East Germany	GDR		3:45.19		Q
		Barbara Krause		–	56.09	56.09 (1)
		Sarina Hülsenbeck		–	55.99	1:52.08 (1)
		Caren Metschuck		–	55.81	2:47.89 (1)
		Carmela Schmidt		–	57.30	3:45.19 (1)
2	3	Australia	AUS		3:56.24		Q
		Lisa Curry		–	59.68	59.68 (3)
		Karen Van de Graaf		–	58.73	1:58.41 (2)
		Rosemary Brown		–	58.92	2:57.33 (2)
		Michele Pearson		–	58.91	3:56.24 (2)
3	2	Spain	ESP		3:58.33		Q
		Natalia Mas		–	58.86	58.86 (2)
		Margarita Armengol		–	59.89	1:58.75 (3)
		Laura Flaque		–	59.74	2:58.49 (3)
		Gloria Casado		–	59.84	3:58.33 (3)
DQ	5	Soviet Union	URS		–
		Irina Gerasimova		–	–	– (AC)
		Nataliya Strunnikova		–	–	– (AC)
		Larisa Tsaryova		–	–	– (AC)
		Olga Klevakina		–	–	– (AC)

Final (27 July 1980 — 20:00)

Pos	Lane	Swimmer	NOC	50 m	Time	Exchange (Pos)
1	4	East Germany	GDR		3:42.71		WR
		Barbara Krause		–	54.90	54.90 (1)
		Caren Metschuck		–	55.61	1:50.51 (1)
		Ines Diers		–	55.90	2:46.41 (1)
		Sarina Hülsenbeck		–	56.30	3:42.71 (1)
2	3	Sweden	SWE		3:48.93
		Carina Ljungdahl		–	57.61	57.61 (3)
		Tina Gustafsson		–	56.82	1:54.43 (2)
		Agneta Mårtensson		–	57.93	2:52.36 (3)
		Agneta Eriksson		–	56.57	3:48.93 (2)
3	5	Netherlands	NED		3:49.51
		Conny van Bentum		–	57.50	57.50 (2)
		Wilma van Velsen		–	57.38	1:54.88 (3)
		Reggie de Jong		–	57.17	2:52.05 (2)
		Annelies Maas		–	57.46	3:49.51 (3)
4	6	Great Britain	GBR		3:51.71
		Sharron Davies		–	58.74	58.74 (5)
		Kaye Lovatt		–	58.44	1:57.18 (5)
		Jackie Willmott		–	57.68	2:54.86 (4)
		June Croft		–	56.85	3:51.71 (4)
5	2	Australia	AUS		3:54.16
		Lisa Curry		–	59.13	59.13 (8)
		Karen Van de Graaf		–	57.79	1:56.92 (4)
		Rosemary Brown		–	59.38	2:56.30 (5)
		Michele Pearson		–	57.86	3:54.16 (5)
6	7	Mexico	MEX		3:55.41
		Isabel Reuss		–	57.99	57.99 (4)
		Dagmar Erdman		–	1:01.17	1:59.16 (8)
		Teresa Rivera		–	58.60	2:57.76 (6)
		Helen Plaschinski		–	57.65	3:55.41 (6)
7	8	Bulgaria	BUL		3:56.34
		Dobrinka Mincheva		–	58.90	58.90 (7)
		Rumyana Dobreva		–	59.79	1:58.69 (6)
		Ani Kostova		–	59.72	2:58.41 (7)
		Sonya Dangalakova		–	57.93	3:56.34 (7)
8	1	Spain	ESP		3:58.73
		Natalia Mas		–	58.88	58.88 (6)
		Margarita Armengol		–	1:00.08	1:58.96 (7)
		Laura Flaque		–	1:00.05	2:59.01 (8)
		Gloria Casado		–	59.72	3:58.73 (8)