The women's 4×200 metre freestyle relay took place on 18 August at the
Olympic Aquatic Centre of the
Athens Olympic Sports Complex
The Olympic Athletic Center of Athens Spiros Louis ( el, Ολυμπιακό Αθλητικό Κέντρο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Athlitikó Kéntro Athinón "Spýros Loúis"'') or OACA ()), is a sport facilities c ...
in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
.
The U.S. women's swimming team (
Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Anne Coughlin Hall (born August 23, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist. While attending the University of California, Berkeley, she became the first woman ever to swim the 100-meter backstro ...
,
Carly Piper
Carly is a given name, a feminine form of Carl (name), Carl.#H1, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 47. It is also a pet form of given names such as Carla and Caroline (given name), Caroline. Variant different spellings include Carley (name), Carl ...
,
Dana Vollmer
Dana Whitney Vollmer (born November 13, 1987) is a former American competition swimmer, five-time Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal as a member of the winning United States ...
, and
Kaitlin Sandeno
Kaitlin Shea Sandeno (born March 13, 1983) is an American former competition swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist, world champion and former world record-holder. Sandeno was a member of the American team that set a new world record in the 4 ...
) 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
Camelia Potec (; born 19 February 1982, in Brăila) is a female Romanian swimmer, who won the gold medal in the women's 200 m freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
She won the Mare Nostrum
''Mare Nostrum'' (; Latin: "Our Sea") was a A ...
in the individual 200 m freestyle.
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.
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.
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]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
Results
Heats
Final
References
External links
Official Olympic Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming At The 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's 4 X 200 Metre Freestyle Relay
W
2004 in women's swimming
Women's events at the 2004 Summer Olympics