| | Event type

4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	2 – 3 August 1948
Status	Olympic
Location	Wembley Arena, Wembley, London
Participants	61 from 14 countries

Of the 24 finalists in the individual freestyle events, 14 of them had come from either the USA or Hungary. It was therefore no surprise when the Americans and Hungarians, who broke the European record, posted the fastest qualifying times.

The final fitted the expected pattern with the two favorites battling each other for the gold, with the other teams hoping for a bronze at best. Three legs of the race were evenly contested but, with 100m to go, the American 400 metre champion Bill Smith opened up a slender lead which he held to the finish. Both gold and silver medal teams broke the existing world record. The American team recorded a time of 8:55.9 in the qualifying round, which would have been good enough for the bronze in the final, without any of the swimmers who would contest the final. Alex Jany, who had otherwise suffered a disappointing Olympics, steered France home for third, ahead of Yugoslavia and the European champions of Sweden.

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	United States	USA	8:55.9 (2 h1)	8:46.0 (1)	Gold
	35	Wally Ris		–	–
	142	Jimmy McLane		–	–
	–	Wally Wolf		–	–
	143	Bill Smith		–	–
	–	Bob Gibe		–	–
	–	William Dudley		–	–
	–	Eddie Gilbert		–	–
	–	Eugene R. Rogers		–	–
	221	George Hoogerhyde DNS		–	–
2	–	Hungary	HUN	8:53.6 (1 h1)	8:48.4 (2)	Silver
	28	Elemér Szathmáry		–	–
	–	György Mitró		–	–
	131	Imre Nyéki		–	–
	27	Géza Kádas		–	–
	215	Zoltán Szilárd DNS		–	–
	214	Gyula Svéda DNS		–	–
3	–	France	FRA	9:08.8 (1 h2)	9:08.0 (3)	Bronze
	126	Jo Bernardo		–	–
	125	René Cornu		–	–
	6	Henri Padou, Jr.		–	–
	20	Alex Jany		–	–
	209	Fernand Martinaux DNS		–	–
	58	Georges Vallerey, Jr. DNS		–	–
	208	Charles Babey DNS		–	–
4	–	Sweden	SWE	9:12.9 (3 h2)	9:09.1 (4)
	41	Martin Lundén		–	–
	140	Per-Olof Östrand		–	–
	40	Olle Johansson		–	–
	42	Per-Olof Olsson		–	–
	218	Hans Hellbrand DNS		–	–
	217	Bror Ebbe Andersson DNS		–	–
5	–	Yugoslavia	YUG	9:12.4 (2 h2)	9:14.0 (5)
	160	Vanja Ilić		–	–
	–	Ciril Pelhan		–	–
	145	Janko Puhar		–	–
	147	Branko Vidović		–	–
	226	Boris Škanata DNS		–	–
	146	Marijan Stipetić DNS		–	–
6	–	Argentina	ARG	9:16.9 (3 h1)	9:19.2 (6)
	2	Horacio White		–	–
	114	José Durañona		–	–
	112	Juan Garay		–	–
	113	Alfredo Yantorno		–	–
	1	Augusto Cantón		–	–
	148	Adolfo Mancuso DNS		–	–
7	–	Mexico	MEX	9:23.4 (4 h2)	9:20.2 (7)
	133	Ramón Bravo		–	–
	134	Ángel Maldonado		–	–
	104	Apolonio Castillo		–	–
	34	Alberto Isaac		–	–
	71	Clemente Mejía DNS		–	–
	216	César Borja DNS		–	–
8	–	Brazil	BRA	9:19.9 (4 h1)	9:31.0 (8)
	46	Sérgio Rodrígues		–	–
	86	Willy Otto Jordan		–	–
	152	Rolf Kestener		–	–
	8	Aram Boghossian		–	–
	7	Plauto Guimarães DNS		–	–
	52	Paulo Silva DNS		–	–
9	–	Great Britain	GBR	9:26.6 (5 h2)	–
	127	Roy Botham		–	–
	128	Jack Hale		–	–
	–	Norman Wainwright		–	–
	–	John Holt		–	–
	25	Ron Stedman DNS		–	–
	–	Ray Legg DNS		–	–
10	–	Spain	ESP	9:28.3 (5 h1)	–
	37	Jesús Domínguez		–	–
	–	Manolo Guerra		–	–
	139	Isidoro Martínez-Vela		–	–
	38	Isidoro Pérez		–	–
	138	Alejandro Febrero DNS		–	–
11	–	Canada	CAN	9:43.2 (6 h2)	–
	120	Doug Gibson		–	–
	9	Eric Jubb		–	–
	119	Allen Gilchrist		–	–
	10	Peter Salmon		–	–
	55	Peter Mingie DNS		–	–
12	–	Egypt	EGY	10:25.0 (7 h2)	–
	14	Ali Bagdadi		–	–
	89	Ahmed Kandil		–	–
	15	Taha El-Gamal		–	–
	–	Abdel Aziz Khalifa		–	–
	–	Dorri Abdel Kader DNS		–	–
	206	Samir Gharbo DNS		–	–
13	–	Pakistan	PAK	12:25.8 (6 h1)	–
	135	Anwar Aziz Chaudhry		–	–
	75	Iftikhar Ahmed Shah		–	–
	73	Jaffar Ali Shah		–	–
	–	Sultan Karim Ali		–	–
	35	Brian O'Connell DNS		–	–
DQ	–	Bermuda	BER	– (DQ h1)	–
	118	Walter Bardgett		–	–
	5	Derek Oatway		–	–
	117	Robert Cook		–	–
	–	Philip Tribley		–	–
	–	Frank Gosling DNS		–	–
	51	Donald Shanks DNS		–	–
DNS	–	Australia	AUS	– (DNS h1)	–
	115	Garrick Agnew DNS		–	–
	–	Bruce Bourke DNS		–	–
	4	Warren Boyd DNS		–	–
	116	John Marshall DNS		–	–
	204	Herman Doerner DNS		–	–
	205	Jack Ferguson DNS		–	–

Round One

Date	2 August 1948 — 16:00
Format	Top 3 in each heat and the next 2 fastest advanced to the final round.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	2	Hungary	HUN	8:53.6	Q
2	1	United States	USA	8:55.9	Q
3	2	France	FRA	9:08.8	Q
4	4	Yugoslavia	YUG	9:12.4	Q
5	3	Sweden	SWE	9:12.9	Q
6	4	Argentina	ARG	9:16.9	Q
7	5	Brazil	BRA	9:19.9	q
8	1	Mexico	MEX	9:23.4	q
9	7	Great Britain	GBR	9:26.6
10	6	Spain	ESP	9:28.3
11	6	Canada	CAN	9:43.2
12	5	Egypt	EGY	10:25.0
13	3	Pakistan	PAK	12:25.8
DQ	7	Bermuda	BER	–		1
DNS	8	Australia	AUS	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	2	Hungary	HUN	8:53.6	Q
Lead-off	–	Géza Kádas		–
2nd Leg	–	György Mitró		–
3rd Leg	–	Imre Nyéki		–
Anchor	–	Elemér Szathmáry		–
2	1	United States	USA	8:55.9	Q
Lead-off	–	Bob Gibe		–
2nd Leg	–	William Dudley		–
3rd Leg	–	Eddie Gilbert		–
Anchor	–	Eugene R. Rogers		–
3	4	Argentina	ARG	9:16.9	Q
Lead-off	–	Augusto Cantón		–
2nd Leg	–	José Durañona		–
3rd Leg	–	Juan Garay		–
Anchor	–	Alfredo Yantorno		–
4	5	Brazil	BRA	9:19.9	q
Lead-off	–	Sérgio Rodrígues		–
2nd Leg	–	Willy Otto Jordan		–
3rd Leg	–	Rolf Kestener		–
Anchor	–	Aram Boghossian		–
5	6	Spain	ESP	9:28.3
Lead-off	–	Jesús Domínguez		–
2nd Leg	–	Manolo Guerra		–
3rd Leg	–	Isidoro Martínez-Vela		–
Anchor	–	Isidoro Pérez		–
6	3	Pakistan	PAK	12:25.8
Lead-off	–	Anwar Aziz Chaudhry		–
2nd Leg	–	Iftikhar Ahmed Shah		–
3rd Leg	–	Jaffar Ali Shah		–
Anchor	–	Sultan Karim Ali		–
DQ	7	Bermuda	BER	–		2
Lead-off	–	Walter Bardgett		–
2nd Leg	–	Derek Oatway		–
3rd Leg	–	Robert Cook		–
Anchor	–	Philip Tribley		–
DNS	8	Australia	AUS	–
	–	Garrick Agnew DNS		–
	–	Bruce Bourke DNS		–
	–	Warren Boyd DNS		–
	–	John Marshall DNS		–
	–	Herman Doerner DNS		–
	–	Jack Ferguson DNS		–

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	2	France	FRA	9:08.8	Q
Lead-off	–	René Cornu		–
2nd Leg	–	Alex Jany		–
3rd Leg	–	Jo Bernardo		–
Anchor	–	Henri Padou, Jr.		–
2	4	Yugoslavia	YUG	9:12.4	Q
Lead-off	–	Vanja Ilić		–
2nd Leg	–	Ciril Pelhan		–
3rd Leg	–	Janko Puhar		–
Anchor	–	Branko Vidović		–
3	3	Sweden	SWE	9:12.9	Q
Lead-off	–	Olle Johansson		–
2nd Leg	–	Martin Lundén		–
3rd Leg	–	Per-Olof Olsson		–
Anchor	–	Per-Olof Östrand		–
4	1	Mexico	MEX	9:23.4	q
Lead-off	–	Ramón Bravo		–
2nd Leg	–	Apolonio Castillo		–
3rd Leg	–	Ángel Maldonado		–
Anchor	–	Alberto Isaac		–
5	7	Great Britain	GBR	9:26.6
Lead-off	–	Roy Botham		–
2nd Leg	–	Jack Hale		–
3rd Leg	–	Norman Wainwright		–
Anchor	–	John Holt		–
6	6	Canada	CAN	9:43.2
Lead-off	–	Doug Gibson		–
2nd Leg	–	Eric Jubb		–
3rd Leg	–	Allen Gilchrist		–
Anchor	–	Peter Salmon		–
7	5	Egypt	EGY	10:25.0
Lead-off	–	Ali Bagdadi		–
2nd Leg	–	Ahmed Kandil		–
3rd Leg	–	Taha El-Gamal		–
Anchor	–	Abdel Aziz Khalifa		–

Final Round

Date	3 August 1948 — 19:00

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time
1	4	United States	USA	8:46.0	WR
Lead-off	–	Wally Ris		–
2nd Leg	–	Jimmy McLane		–
3rd Leg	–	Wally Wolf		–
Anchor	–	Bill Smith		–
2	5	Hungary	HUN	8:48.4
Lead-off	–	Elemér Szathmáry		–
2nd Leg	–	György Mitró		–
3rd Leg	–	Imre Nyéki		–
Anchor	–	Géza Kádas		–
3	6	France	FRA	9:08.0
Lead-off	–	Jo Bernardo		–
2nd Leg	–	René Cornu		–
3rd Leg	–	Henri Padou, Jr.		–
Anchor	–	Alex Jany		–
4	7	Sweden	SWE	9:09.1
Lead-off	–	Martin Lundén		–
2nd Leg	–	Per-Olof Östrand		–
3rd Leg	–	Olle Johansson		–
Anchor	–	Per-Olof Olsson		–
5	3	Yugoslavia	YUG	9:14.0
Lead-off	–	Vanja Ilić		–
2nd Leg	–	Ciril Pelhan		–
3rd Leg	–	Janko Puhar		–
Anchor	–	Branko Vidović		–
6	2	Argentina	ARG	9:19.2
Lead-off	–	Horacio White		–
2nd Leg	–	José Durañona		–
3rd Leg	–	Juan Garay		–
Anchor	–	Alfredo Yantorno		–
7	1	Mexico	MEX	9:20.2
Lead-off	–	Ramón Bravo		–
2nd Leg	–	Ángel Maldonado		–
3rd Leg	–	Apolonio Castillo		–
Anchor	–	Alberto Isaac		–
8	8	Brazil	BRA	9:31.0
Lead-off	–	Sérgio Rodrígues		–
2nd Leg	–	Willy Otto Jordan		–
3rd Leg	–	Rolf Kestener		–
Anchor	–	Aram Boghossian		–