Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
| Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Olympic Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
| Dates | August 18, 2004 (heats & final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 74 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 7:53.42 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| 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 |
The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay took place on 18 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.[1]
The U.S. women's swimming team (Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer, and Kaitlin Sandeno) broke the oldest world record in the book, when they clocked at 7:53.42, slashing 2.05 seconds off the old, mark set by the East Germans exactly 17 years ago. Leading off the race, Coughlin swam a fastest split and a personal best of 1:57.74, which became quicker than a gold-medal performance of 1:58.03 set by Romania's Camelia Potec in the individual 200 m freestyle.[2][3][4]
With Team USA taking its third straight title since the event's Olympic debut in 1996, China made a surprise packet with a silver medal, in an Asian record of 7:55.97.[5] Meanwhile, the unified Germans held off the Aussies for the bronze in 7:57.35, 45-hundredths of a second under an old Olympic record set by Team USA in 2000. Despite missing the podium by 0.05 of a second, the Australians broke their national record of 7:57.40 to settle only for fourth place.[2]
Records[edit]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  East Germany (GDR)Manuela Stellmach (2:00.23) Astrid Strauss (1:58.90) Anke Möhring (1:58.73) Heike Friedrich (1:57.61) |
7:55.47 | Strasbourg, France | 18 August 1987 |
| Olympic record |  United States (USA)Samantha Arsenault (1:59.92) Diana Munz (1:59.19) Lindsay Benko (1:59.34) Jenny Thompson (1:59.35) |
7:57.80 | Sydney, Australia | 20 September 2000 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 18 | Final | Natalie Coughlin (1:57.74) Carly Piper (1:59.39) Dana Vollmer (1:58.12) Kaitlin Sandeno (1:58.17) |
United States |
7:53.42 | WR |
Results[edit]
Heats[edit]
Final[edit]
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | United States |
Natalie Coughlin (1:57.74) Carly Piper (1:59.39) Dana Vollmer (1:58.12) Kaitlin Sandeno (1:58.17) |
7:53.42 | WR | |
 |
7 |  China |
Zhu Yingwen (1:59.75) Xu Yanwei (1:58.45) Yang Yu (1:59.50) Pang Jiaying (1:58.27) |
7:55.97 | 2.55 | AS |
 |
6 |  Germany |
Franziska van Almsick (1:59.61) Petra Dallmann (2:00.06) Antje Buschschulte (1:58.46) Hannah Stockbauer (1:59.22) |
7:57.35 | 3.93 | |
| 4 | 3 |  Australia |
Alice Mills (2:00.38) Elka Graham (1:59.18) Shayne Reese (2:00.64) Petria Thomas (1:57.20) |
7:57.40 | 3.98 | OC |
| 5 | 5 |  Great Britain |
Melanie Marshall (1:59.39) Georgina Lee (2:00.50) Caitlin McClatchey (2:00.48) Karen Pickering (1:58.74) |
7:59.11 | 5.69 | |
| 6 | 2 |  Spain |
Tatiana Rouba (2:00.18) Melissa Caballero (2:00.57) Arantxa Ramos (2:02.32) Erika Villaécija (1:59.04) |
8:02.11 | 8.69 | |
| 7 | 1 |  Brazil |
Joanna Melo (2:01.20) Monique Ferreira (2:01.42) Mariana Brochado (2:01.15) Paula Baracho (2:01.52) |
8:05.29 | 11.87 | |
| 8 | 8 |  Sweden |
Josefin Lillhage (1:59.86) Ida Mattsson (2:01.45) Malin Svahnström (2:03.68) Lotta Wanberg (2:03.35) |
8:08.34 | 14.92 |
References[edit]
- ^ "Swimming schedule". BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 17 June 2007.
- ^ a b Thomas, Stephen (18 August 2004). "US Women Break the Oldest World Record in the Book, the 800 Freestyle Relay". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^ Dodd, Mike (18 August 2004). "American women erase swimming's oldest world record". USA Today. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^ Fitzpatrick, Franz (19 August 2004). "German mark now worthless The U.S. women's 4×200 relay squad drowned an unpopular 1987 record". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- ^ "Chinese women win silver for freestyle relay gold". China Daily. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 10 May 2013.