The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 12–13 August at the

Beijing National Aquatics Center The National Aquatics Centre (), and colloquially known as the Water Cube () and the Ice Cube (), is an aquatics center at the Olympic Green in Beijing, China. The facility was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The U.S. men's team smashed both the seven-minute barrier and the world record to keep

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

' gold-medal streak alive and most importantly, to defend their Olympic title in the event. The American foursome of Phelps (1:43.31, the second fastest split in history),

Ryan Lochte Ryan Steven Lochte ( ; born August 3, 1984) is an American professional swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist. Along with Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, and Jenny Thompson, he is the second-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history measured by to ...

(1:44.28),

Ricky Berens Richard "Ricky" Berens (born April 21, 1988) is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and current world record-holder. As a member of the U.S. national team, he holds the world record in the 4× ...

(1:46.29), and

Peter Vanderkaay Peter William Vanderkaay (born February 12, 1984) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in middle-distance freestyle events and is a four-time Olympic medalist. He was a member of the United States Olympic team in 2004, 2008, ...

(1:44.68) blistered the field, and prevailed in a sterling time of 6:58.56 to shave off their standard by almost five seconds from the 2007 World Championships in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Earlier in the prelims, Berens (1:45.47) and his teammates

David Walters David Lee Walters (born November 20, 1951) is an American politician who was the 24th governor of Oklahoma from 1991 to 1995. Born in Canute, Oklahoma, Walters was a project manager for Governor David Boren and the youngest executive officer ...

(1:46.57),

Erik Vendt Erik K. Vendt (born January 9, 1981) is an American former competition swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 400-meter individual medley. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Vendt won a gold me ...

(1:47.11), and

Klete Keller Klete Derik Keller (born March 21, 1982) is an American convicted felon and former competitive swimmer. Before retiring from swimming in 2008, Keller won five Olympic medals, including two golds, at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Olympics in ...

(1:45.51) registered a top-seeded time of 7:04.66 from heat two to demolish Australia's 2000 Olympic record by 2.39 seconds. Russia's

Nikita Lobintsev Nikita Konstantinovich Lobintsev (russian: Никита Константинович Лобинцев; born 21 November 1988 in Yekaterinburg) is a Russian freestyle swimmer, who won the silver medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 2 ...

(1:46.64),

Yevgeny Lagunov Yevgeny Alexandrovich Lagunov (russian: Евгений Александрович Лагунов; born 14 December 1985) is a freestyle swimmer from Russia, who won the bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the European Short Course Swimm ...

(1:46.56),

Danila Izotov Danila Sergeevich Izotov (russian: Данила Сергеевич Изотов; born 2 October 1991) is a Russian swimmer, a member of the Russian National team since 2008, and a multiple medalist at the Olympic Games and World Championships, a ...

(1:45.86), and

Alexander Sukhorukov Alexandr Nikolayevich Sukhorukov (russian: Александр Николаевич Сухоруков, born 22 February 1988) is a Russian competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. He competed in the 200 m freestyle and 4 × 200 m ...

(1:44.65) trailed behind the Americans by over five body lengths to take home the silver in a European record of 7:03.70. Meanwhile, Australia's Patrick Murphy (1:45.95),

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him t ...

(1:45.87),

Grant Brits Grant Brits (born 11 August 1987) is a South African-born competition swimmer who represented Australia at various international championship events including at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing where he secured an Olympic bronze medal. Gr ...

(1:47.13), and Nic Ffrost (1:46.03) picked up a bronze in 7:04.98 to hold off the agile Italian quartet of

Marco Belotti Marco Belotti (born 29 November 1988 in Brescia) is an Italian freestyle swimmer. He competed at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympi ...

(1:47.37),

Emiliano Brembilla Emiliano Brembilla (born 21 December 1978) is a freestyle swimmer from Italy who was five-time individual European Champion, four in 400 m freestyle (1997, 2000, 2002 and 2004) and one in 1500 m freestyle (1997). Career He won the bronze medal ...

(1:47.33),

Massimiliano Rosolino Massimiliano "Massi" Rosolino (born 11 July 1978) is an Italian retired competitive swimmer. Biography Born in Naples to an Italian father, Salvatore, and an Australian mother, Carolyn, he moved to Australia at the age of three, coming back to ...

(1:46.53), and

Filippo Magnini Filippo Magnini (; born 2 February 1982) is an Italian retired competitive swimmer who was twice 100 metres freestyle World champion and three times European champion at that distance. Biography Magnini was born in Pesaro, Marche. As a yout ...

(1:44.12) by 37-hundredths of a second, a national record of 7:05.35. Canada's

Brent Hayden Brent Matthew Hayden (born October 21, 1983) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Representing Canada for a decade, Hayden is regarded as the fastest swimmer in Canadian history. Hayden won a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Summ ...

(1:44.42) helped his teammates Colin Russell (1:46.89),

Brian Johns Brian Lawrence Johns (born August 5, 1982) is a former competition swimmer from Canada. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he grew up in Richmond, British Columbia and trained with the Aquanauts and Racers (later Rapids) swim clubs. He started swimm ...

(1:47.61),

(1:44.42), and

Andrew Hurd Andrew Hurd (born August 12, 1982) is a Canadian former freestyle swimmer. He began swimming at age 8 and was a student at the University of Michigan. He won a gold medal on the world cup circuit in 2000 in Edmonton, Alberta in the 1500-metre f ...

(1:46.85) claim a fifth spot in a national record of 7:05.77. Great Britain (7:05.92), Japan (7:10.31), and South Africa (7:13.02), led by fourth-place finalist

Jean Basson Jean Basson (born 5 October 1987) is an Olympic swimmer from South Africa. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Basson placed fourth in the 200-metre freestyle final with a time of 1:45.97.

, rounded out the field.

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 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 by 200 metre freestyle relay Men's freestyle relay 4 x 200 metre 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics