Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
| Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||
| Date | August 13, 2008 (heats) August 14, 2008 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 75 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 7:44.31 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Qualification | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | women | |
| 1500 m | men | |
| Backstroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Butterfly | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Individual medley | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
| 4 × 200 m | men | women |
| Medley relay | ||
| 4 × 100 m | men | women |
| Marathon | ||
| 10 km | men | women |
The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–14 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]
For the first time since the event's inception in 1996, the Aussies smashed a new world record to overhaul the undefeated Americans for an Olympic title with a benefit of a sterling opening leg from Stephanie Rice. Starting the program's longest relay race with a remarkable Oceanian-record split of 1:56.60, Rice and her teammates Bronte Barratt (1:56.58), Kylie Palmer (1:55.22), and Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) registered a gold-medal time of 7:44.31 to shave nearly six seconds off the previous world record set by their greatest rivals in 2007.[2][3]
China's Pang Jiaying expanded her stretch over U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff with an anchor of 1:54.39 to deliver the foursome of Yang Yu (1:56.79), Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64), and Tan Miao (1:58.11) a superb Asian record time of 7:45.93, and a silver medal for the host nation.[4][5] After a disappointing Olympic campaign, the U.S. team of Allison Schmitt (1:57.71), Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19), Caroline Burckle (1:56.70), and Hoff (1:54.73) finally found the best form on the blazing anchor leg to end the race for the bronze in 7:46.33, finishing nearly four seconds under the old world record.[6][7][8]
Italy's Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31), Alessia Filippi (1:56.68), Flavia Zoccari (1:59.80), and Federica Pellegrini (1:54.97) missed out the podium by over three seconds with a fourth-place time and a European record of 7:49.76. Meanwhile, the French quartet of Coralie Balmy (1:56.57), Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:57.95), Aurore Mongel (1:58.62), and Camille Muffat (1:57.52) occupied the fifth spot in 7:50.66. Earlier in the prelims, Muffat (1:57.32), Balmy (1:55.86), Céline Couderc (1:58.92), and Alena Popchanka (1:58.27), previously competed for Belarus in three Games, established a new Olympic record of 7:50.37 to close the session with a final top seed.[9] Hungary (7:55.53), Japan (7:57.56), and Sweden (7:59.83) rounded out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight teams finished the race under eight minutes due to the presence of technology suits.[8]
Records
[edit]Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  United States (USA)Natalie Coughlin (1:56.43) Dana Vollmer (1:57.49) Lacey Nymeyer (1:59.19) Katie Hoff (1:56.98) |
7:50.09 | Melbourne, Australia | 29 March 2007 | [10] |
| Olympic record |  United States (USA)Natalie Coughlin (1:57.74) Carly Piper (1:59.39) Dana Vollmer (1:58.12) Kaitlin Sandeno (1:58.17) |
7:53.42 | Athens, Greece | 18 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 13 | Heat 1 | Alena Popchanka (1:58.27) Céline Couderc (1:58.92) Camille Muffat (1:57.32) Coralie Balmy (1:55.86) |
 France |
7:50.37 | OR |
| August 14 | Final | Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) =OC Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) |
 Australia |
7:44.31 | WR |
Results
[edit]Heats
[edit]
Final
[edit]
| Rank | Lane | Nationality | Name | Time | Time behind | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
7 | Australia |
Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) OC Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) |
7:44.31 | WR | |
 |
6 |  China |
Yang Yu (1:56.79) Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64) Tan Miao (1:58.11) Pang Jiaying (1:54.39) |
7:45.93 | 1.62 | AS |
 |
5 | United States |
Allison Schmitt (1:57.71) Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19) Caroline Burckle (1:56.70) Katie Hoff (1:54.73) |
7:46.33 | 2.02 | AM |
| 4 | 3 |  Italy |
Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31) Alessia Filippi (1:56.68) Flavia Zoccari (1:59.80) Federica Pellegrini (1:54.97) |
7:49.76 | 5.45 | EU |
| 5 | 4 | France |
Coralie Balmy (1:56.57) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:57.95) Aurore Mongel (1:58.62) Camille Muffat (1:57.52) |
7:50.66 | 6.35 | |
| 6 | 1 |  Hungary |
Ágnes Mutina (1:58.17) Evelyn Verrasztó (1:57.80) Eszter Dara (2:00.39) Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:59.17) |
7:55.53 | 11.22 | |
| 7 | 8 |  Japan |
Haruka Ueda (1:58.44) Misaki Yamaguchi (1:58.51) Maki Mita (1:58.78) Emi Takanabe (2:01.83) |
7:57.56 | 13.25 | |
| 8 | 2 |  Sweden |
Josefin Lillhage (2:00.48) Gabriella Fagundez (2:00.09) Ida Marko-Varga (1:58.58) Petra Granlund (2:00.68) |
7:59.83 | 15.52 |
References
[edit]- ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ Newberry, Paul (14 August 2008). "Olympics Notebook: Phelps, Lochte set for classic 200 IM". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Dillman, Lisa (14 August 2008). "Third encounters". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ "Australia wins women's 4×200 freestyle relay with world record". Xinhua News Agency. 14 August 2008. Archived from the original on August 24, 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Yang, Xinwei (14 August 2008). "Day of surprise wins for hosts". China Daily. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ "U.S. women fail to win 800 relay for the first time since it began in 1996". ESPN. 14 August 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Coffey, Wayne (14 August 2008). "U.S. swimmers hit rough waters". New York Daily News. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ a b Lohn, John (13 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Australia Smashes Women's 800 Free Relay World Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ Lohn, John (12 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: France Sets Olympic Record in Women's 800 Freestyle Relay to Close Session". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ Clarey, Christopher (30 March 2007). "Leaving others in his wake, Phelps sets another mark". New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2008.