| | Event type

4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	23 September 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul
Participants	95 from 22 countries

The United States would normally be favored in this event, and they were the defending champions. Nonetheless, they had been challenged at the 1986 World Championships by the Soviet Union and East Germany, the 1987 European Champions, and at the 1987 Pan Pacifics by Canada and Australia.

The USA qualified easily, resting three of their top swimmers for the final. In the final, the United States took an early lead on the opening leg, swum by Chris Jacobs, but the Soviets closed over the next two legs and, as the anchors readied to start, the lead was less than 1/10th second. However, Matt Biondi was the American anchor and he quickly settled matters, as he blasted a 47.81 anchor, the third fastest split ever swum, and the US had the gold medal and a world record of 3:16.53. The USSR was almost two seconds back for the silver, followed by East Germany.

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	–	United States	USA	3:19.52 (1 h3)	3:16.53 (1)	Gold
	560	Chris Jacobs		–	–
	555	Troy Dalbey		–	–
	561	Tom Jager		–	–
	548	Matt Biondi		–	–
	569	Brent Lang		–	–
	559	Doug Gjertsen		–	–
	563	Shaun Jordan		–	–
2	–	Soviet Union	URS	3:19.89 (2 h3)	3:18.33 (2)	Silver
	534	Gennady Prigoda		–	–
	508	Iurie Bașcatov		–	–
	513	Nikolay Yevseyev		–	–
	539	Vladimir Tkachenko		–	–
	525	Raimundas Mažuolis		–	–
	511	Aleksey Borislavsky		–	–
3	–	East Germany	GDR	3:20.47 (3 h3)	3:19.82 (3)	Bronze
	264	Dirk Richter		–	–
	255	Thomas Flemming		–	–
	259	Lars Hinneburg		–	–
	265	Steffen Zesner		–	–
4	–	France	FRA	3:21.77 (4 h3)	3:20.02 (4)
	173	Stéphan Caron		–	–
	186	Christophe Kalfayan		–	–
	191	Laurent Neuville		–	–
	179	Bruno Gutzeit		–	–
5	–	Sweden	SWE	3:23.09 (1 h1)	3:21.07 (5)
	480	Per Johansson		–	–
	486	Tom Werner		–	–
	478	Joakim Holmquist		–	–
	484	Göran Titus		–	–
	481	Rikard Milton		–	–
6	–	West Germany	FRG	3:23.19 (1 h2)	3:21.65 (6)
	204	Michael Groß		–	–
	202	Thomas Fahrner		–	–
	229	Björn Zikarsky		–	–
	222	Peter Sitt		–	–
	228	Torsten Wiegel		–	–
7	–	Great Britain	GBR	3:23.71 (3 h2)	3:21.71 (7)
	239	Mike Fibbens		–	–
	240	Mark Foster		–	–
	248	Roland Lee		–	–
	246	Andy Jameson		–	–
8	–	Italy	ITA	3:23.35 (2 h2)	3:22.93 (8)
	357	Roberto Gleria		–	–
	359	Giorgio Lamberti		–	–
	369	Fabrizio Rampazzo		–	–
	350	Andrea Ceccarini		–	–
9	–	Canada	CAN	3:23.85 (2 h1)	–
	70	Mark Andrews		–	–
	90	Steven Vandermeulen		–	–
	72	Vlastimil Cerny		–	–
	77	Sandy Goss		–	–
10	–	Denmark	DEN	3:25.15 (3 h1)	–
	129	Franz Mortensen		–	–
	127	Vagn Høgholm		–	–
	130	Benny Nielsen		–	–
	131	Peter Rohde		–	–
11	–	Netherlands	NED	3:25.26 (4 h1)	–
	295	Frank Drost		–	–
	296	Patrick Dybiona		–	–
	298	Hans Kroes		–	–
	294	Ron Dekker		–	–
12	–	Brazil	BRA	3:28.17 (4 h2)	–
	59	Emanuel Fortes		–	–
	57	Cristiano Michelena		–	–
	55	Jorge Fernandes		–	–
	56	Júlio López		–	–
13	–	Mexico	MEX	3:29.72 (5 h2)	–
	424	Rodrigo González		–	–
	423	Ignacio Escamilla		–	–
	421	Jorge Alarcón		–	–
	429	Urbano Zea		–	–
14	–	Portugal	POR	3:33.31 (5 h1)	–
	446	Mabílio Albuquerque		–	–
	455	Henrique Villaret		–	–
	453	Vasco Sousa		–	–
	450	Sérgio Esteves		–	–
15	–	Singapore	SGP	3:34.54 (5 h3)	–
	459	Ang Peng Siong		–	–
	461	David Lim		–	–
	463	Oon Jin Gee		–	–
	460	Desmond Koh		–	–
16	–	Hong Kong	HKG	3:34.78 (6 h2)	–
	291	Michael Wright		–	–
	286	Johnny Li		–	–
	285	Arthur Li		–	–
	288	Tsang Yi Ming		–	–
17	–	Republic of Korea	KOR	3:38.05 (7 h2)	–
	398	Gwon Sang-Won		–	–
	409	Yang Gam		–	–
	407	Song Gwang-Seon		–	–
	399	Gwon Sun-Geun		–	–
18	–	United States Virgin Islands	ISV	3:43.23 (6 h1)	–
	339	Hans Foerster		–	–
	341	Kraig Singleton		–	–
	342	Kristan Singleton		–	–
	338	William Cleveland		–	–
19	–	United Arab Emirates	UAE	3:58.92 (6 h3)	–
	504	Ahmad Faraj		–	–
	500	Mohammed Alghafri		–	–
	501	Bassam Al-Ansari		–	–
	503	Mohamed Bin Abid		–	–
DQ	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	– (DQ h2)	–
	108	Shen Jianqiang		–	–
	105	Li Tao		–	–
	113	Xie Jun		–	–
	96	Feng Qiangbiao		–	–
DQ	–	Egypt	EGY	– (DQ h3)	–
	138	Mohamed El-Azoul		–	–
	136	Moustafa Amin		–	–
	139	Mohamed Hassan		–	–
	137	Moustafa Amer		–	–
DQ	–	Austria	AUT	– (DQ h3)	–
	39	Stefan Opatril		–	–
	38	Markus Opatril		–	–
	42	Alexander Placheta		–	–
	40	Alexander Pilhatsch		–	–

Round One

Date	23 September 1988 — 10:00
Format	Fastest 8 advanced to the final round.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	4	United States	USA	3:19.52	Q
2	5	Soviet Union	URS	3:19.89	Q
3	3	East Germany	GDR	3:20.47	Q
4	6	France	FRA	3:21.77	Q
5	4	Sweden	SWE	3:23.09	Q
6	4	West Germany	FRG	3:23.19	Q
7	3	Italy	ITA	3:23.35	Q
8	6	Great Britain	GBR	3:23.71	Q
9	5	Canada	CAN	3:23.85
10	3	Denmark	DEN	3:25.15
11	2	Netherlands	NED	3:25.26
12	2	Brazil	BRA	3:28.17
13	7	Mexico	MEX	3:29.72
14	7	Portugal	POR	3:33.31
15	7	Singapore	SGP	3:34.54
16	1	Hong Kong	HKG	3:34.78
17	8	Republic of Korea	KOR	3:38.05
18	1	United States Virgin Islands	ISV	3:43.23
19	8	United Arab Emirates	UAE	3:58.92
DQ	5	People's Republic of China	CHN	–
DQ	1	Egypt	EGY	–
DQ	2	Austria	AUT	–

Heat #1

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	Sweden	SWE	3:23.09	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Tom Werner		–	50.92 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Rikard Milton		–	51.38 (4)	1:42.30 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Joakim Holmquist		–	50.48 (1)	2:32.78 (1)
Anchor	–	Göran Titus		–	50.31 (2)	– (–)
2	5	Canada	CAN	3:23.85	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Mark Andrews		–	51.66 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Steven Vandermeulen		–	50.90 (2)	1:42.56 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Vlastimil Cerny		–	51.14 (2)	2:33.70 (2)
Anchor	–	Sandy Goss		–	50.15 (1)	– (–)
3	3	Denmark	DEN	3:25.15	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Franz Mortensen		–	51.21 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Vagn Høgholm		–	50.97 (3)	1:42.18 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Benny Nielsen		–	51.73 (4)	2:33.91 (3)
Anchor	–	Peter Rohde		–	51.24 (3)	– (–)
4	2	Netherlands	NED	3:25.26	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Frank Drost		–	51.52 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Patrick Dybiona		–	50.86 (1)	1:42.38 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Hans Kroes		–	51.57 (3)	2:33.95 (4)
Anchor	–	Ron Dekker		–	51.31 (4)	– (–)
5	7	Portugal	POR	3:33.31	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Mabílio Albuquerque		–	53.06 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Henrique Villaret		–	52.87 (5)	1:45.93 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Vasco Sousa		–	53.73 (5)	2:39.66 (5)
Anchor	–	Sérgio Esteves		–	53.65 (5)	– (–)
6	1	United States Virgin Islands	ISV	3:43.23	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Hans Foerster		–	54.23 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Kraig Singleton		–	56.51 (6)	1:50.74 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Kristan Singleton		–	57.78 (6)	2:48.52 (6)
Anchor	–	William Cleveland		–	54.71 (6)	– (–)

Heat #2

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	West Germany	FRG	3:23.19	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Björn Zikarsky		–	51.09 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Peter Sitt		–	51.02 (3)	1:42.11 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Torsten Wiegel		–	51.09 (2)	2:33.20 (3)
Anchor	–	Thomas Fahrner		–	49.99 (1)	– (–)
2	3	Italy	ITA	3:23.35	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Fabrizio Rampazzo		–	51.83 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Giorgio Lamberti		–	49.93 (1)	1:41.76 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Andrea Ceccarini		–	51.25 (3)	2:33.01 (2)
Anchor	–	Roberto Gleria		–	50.34 (2)	– (–)
3	6	Great Britain	GBR	3:23.71	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Andy Jameson		–	51.40 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mark Foster		–	50.81 (2)	1:42.21 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Mike Fibbens		–	50.68 (1)	2:32.89 (1)
Anchor	–	Roland Lee		–	50.82 (3)	– (–)
4	2	Brazil	BRA	3:28.17	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Emanuel Fortes		–	52.13 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Cristiano Michelena		–	52.13 (4)	1:44.26 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Jorge Fernandes		–	52.05 (4)	2:36.31 (4)
Anchor	–	Júlio López		–	51.86 (4)	– (–)
5	7	Mexico	MEX	3:29.72	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Rodrigo González		–	51.48 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ignacio Escamilla		–	53.48 (6)	1:44.96 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Jorge Alarcón		–	52.51 (5)	2:37.47 (5)
Anchor	–	Urbano Zea		–	52.25 (5)	– (–)
6	1	Hong Kong	HKG	3:34.78	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Michael Wright		–	53.74 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Johnny Li		–	52.79 (5)	1:46.53 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Arthur Li		–	53.48 (6)	2:40.01 (6)
Anchor	–	Tsang Yi Ming		–	54.77 (6)	– (–)
7	8	Republic of Korea	KOR	3:38.05	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Gwon Sang-Won		–	54.18 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Yang Gam		–	54.17 (7)	1:48.35 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Song Gwang-Seon		–	54.25 (7)	2:42.60 (7)
Anchor	–	Gwon Sun-Geun		–	55.45 (7)	– (–)
DQ	5	People's Republic of China	CHN	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Shen Jianqiang		–	– (–)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Li Tao		–	– (–)	– (–)
3rd Leg	–	Xie Jun		–	– (–)	– (–)
Anchor	–	Feng Qiangbiao		–	– (–)	– (–)

Heat #3

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	United States	USA	3:19.52	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Brent Lang		–	50.18 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Doug Gjertsen		–	49.64 (1)	1:39.82 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Shaun Jordan		–	50.19 (3)	2:30.01 (1)
Anchor	–	Troy Dalbey		–	49.51 (1)	– (–)
2	5	Soviet Union	URS	3:19.89	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Raimundas Mažuolis		–	50.90 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Aleksey Borislavsky		–	49.95 (2)	1:40.85 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Nikolay Yevseyev		–	49.21 (1)	2:30.06 (2)
Anchor	–	Vladimir Tkachenko		–	49.83 (2)	– (–)
3	3	East Germany	GDR	3:20.47	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Dirk Richter		–	50.30 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Thomas Flemming		–	50.01 (3)	1:40.31 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Lars Hinneburg		–	50.11 (2)	2:30.42 (3)
Anchor	–	Steffen Zesner		–	50.05 (3)	– (–)
4	6	France	FRA	3:21.77	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Stéphan Caron		–	50.68 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Christophe Kalfayan		–	50.54 (4)	1:41.22 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Laurent Neuville		–	50.45 (4)	2:31.67 (4)
Anchor	–	Bruno Gutzeit		–	50.10 (4)	– (–)
5	7	Singapore	SGP	3:34.54	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ang Peng Siong		–	52.28 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	David Lim		–	53.01 (5)	1:45.29 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Oon Jin Gee		–	52.77 (5)	2:38.06 (5)
Anchor	–	Desmond Koh		–	56.48 (5)	– (–)
6	8	United Arab Emirates	UAE	3:58.92	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ahmad Faraj		–	58.29 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mohammed Alghafri		–	1:00.80 (6)	1:59.09 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Bassam Al-Ansari		–	1:00.92 (6)	3:00.01 (6)
Anchor	–	Mohamed Bin Abid		–	58.91 (6)	– (–)
DQ	1	Egypt	EGY	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Mohamed El-Azoul		–	– (–)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Moustafa Amin		–	– (–)	– (–)
3rd Leg	–	Mohamed Hassan		–	– (–)	– (–)
Anchor	–	Moustafa Amer		–	– (–)	– (–)
DQ	2	Austria	AUT	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Stefan Opatril		–	– (–)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Markus Opatril		–	– (–)	– (–)
3rd Leg	–	Alexander Placheta		–	– (–)	– (–)
Anchor	–	Alexander Pilhatsch		–	– (–)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	23 September 1988 — 20:00

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Split	Exchange
1	4	United States	USA	3:16.53	– (–)	– (–)	WR
Lead-off	–	Chris Jacobs		–	49.63 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Troy Dalbey		–	49.75 (3)	1:39.38 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Tom Jager		–	49.34 (2)	2:28.72 (1)
Anchor	–	Matt Biondi		–	47.81 (1)	– (–)
2	5	Soviet Union	URS	3:18.33	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Gennady Prigoda		–	50.24 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Iurie Bașcatov		–	49.30 (1)	1:39.54 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Nikolay Yevseyev		–	49.27 (1)	2:28.81 (2)
Anchor	–	Vladimir Tkachenko		–	49.52 (=2)	– (–)
3	3	East Germany	GDR	3:19.82	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Dirk Richter		–	50.25 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Thomas Flemming		–	49.70 (2)	1:39.95 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Lars Hinneburg		–	50.35 (5)	2:30.30 (4)
Anchor	–	Steffen Zesner		–	49.52 (=2)	– (–)
4	6	France	FRA	3:20.02	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Stéphan Caron		–	49.97 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Christophe Kalfayan		–	50.09 (6)	1:40.06 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Laurent Neuville		–	50.04 (3)	2:30.10 (3)
Anchor	–	Bruno Gutzeit		–	49.92 (5)	– (–)
5	2	Sweden	SWE	3:21.07	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Per Johansson		–	50.58 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Tom Werner		–	50.00 (=4)	1:40.58 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Joakim Holmquist		–	50.47 (7)	2:31.05 (5)
Anchor	–	Göran Titus		–	50.02 (6)	– (–)
6	7	West Germany	FRG	3:21.65	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Michael Groß		–	50.66 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Thomas Fahrner		–	50.00 (=4)	1:40.66 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Björn Zikarsky		–	50.40 (6)	2:31.06 (6)
Anchor	–	Peter Sitt		–	50.59 (7)	– (–)
7	8	Great Britain	GBR	3:21.71	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Mike Fibbens		–	51.36 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mark Foster		–	50.20 (7)	1:41.56 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Roland Lee		–	50.33 (4)	2:31.89 (7)
Anchor	–	Andy Jameson		–	49.82 (4)	– (–)
8	1	Italy	ITA	3:22.93	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Roberto Gleria		–	50.51 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Giorgio Lamberti		–	50.31 (8)	1:40.82 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Fabrizio Rampazzo		–	51.19 (8)	2:32.01 (8)
Anchor	–	Andrea Ceccarini		–	50.92 (8)	– (–)