| | Event type

4 × 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	Lane	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	East Germany	GDR	3:45.19 (1 h2)	3:42.71 (1)	Gold
	71	Barbara Krause		–	–
	74	Caren Metschuck		–	–
	63	Ines Diers		–	–
	67	Sarina Hülsenbeck		–	–
	81	Carmela Schmidt		–	–
2	–	Sweden	SWE	3:52.22 (2 h1)	3:48.93 (2)	Silver
	142	Carina Ljungdahl		–	–
	138	Tina Gustafsson		–	–
	143	Agneta Mårtensson		–	–
	137	Agneta Eriksson		–	–
	140	Birgitta Jönsson		–	–
	144	Helena Peterson		–	–
3	–	Netherlands	NED	3:51.30 (1 h1)	3:49.51 (3)	Bronze
	94	Conny van Bentum		–	–
	95	Wilma van Velsen		–	–
	90	Reggie de Jong		–	–
	93	Annelies Maas		–	–
4	–	Great Britain	GBR	3:53.08 (3 h1)	3:51.71 (4)
	49	Sharron Davies		–	–
	56	Kaye Lovatt		–	–
	61	Jackie Willmott		–	–
	48	June Croft		–	–
	47	Susan Cooper DNS		–	–
5	–	Australia	AUS	3:56.24 (2 h2)	3:54.16 (5)
	2	Lisa Curry		–	–
	9	Karen Van de Graaf		–	–
	1	Rosemary Brown		–	–
	8	Michelle Pearson		–	–
6	–	Mexico	MEX	3:56.87 (4 h1)	3:55.41 (6)
	118	Isabel Reuss		–	–
	115	Dagmar Erdman		–	–
	119	Teresa Rivera		–	–
	117	Helen Plaschinski		–	–
7	–	Bulgaria	BUL	3:59.65 (5 h1)	3:56.34 (7)
	24	Dobrinka Mincheva		–	–
	22	Rumyana Dobreva		–	–
	23	Ani Kostova		–	–
	20	Sonya Dangalakova		–	–
	21	Boryana Dimitrova DNS		–	–
8	–	Spain	ESP	3:58.33 (3 h2)	3:58.73 (8)
	36	Natalia Mas		–	–
	31	Margarita Armengol		–	–
	34	Laura Flaque		–	–
	32	Gloria Casado		–	–
DQ	5	Soviet Union	URS	– (DQ h2)	–
	154	Irina Gerasimova		–	–
	166	Nataliya Strunnikova		–	–
	167	Larisa Tsaryova		–	–
	160	Olga Klevakina		–	–
	151	Irina Aksyonova DNS		–	–
	152	Yuliya Bogdanova DNS		–	–
	155	Larisa Gorchakova DNS		–	–

Round One

Date	27 July 1980 — 11:00
Format	Fastest 8 advanced to the final round.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	4	East Germany	GDR	3:45.19	Q
2	2	Netherlands	NED	3:51.30	Q
3	4	Sweden	SWE	3:52.22	Q
4	5	Great Britain	GBR	3:53.08	Q
5	3	Australia	AUS	3:56.24	Q
6	3	Mexico	MEX	3:56.87	Q
7	2	Spain	ESP	3:58.33	Q
8	6	Bulgaria	BUL	3:59.65	Q
DQ	5	Soviet Union	URS	–

Heat #1

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

Heat #2

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

Final Round

Date	27 July 1980 — 20:00

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