The women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 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 2 ...

in Beijing, China. The Dutch women reinforced their claim to become the strongest team in the world with a magnificent triumph over the Aussies and the Americans in the event. Pulling nearly a worst-to-first effort from a seventh-place turn by

Inge Dekker Inge Dekker (born 18 August 1985) is a Dutch former competitive swimmer who specialised in butterfly and freestyle events. She won the bronze medal with the Dutch women's 4×100-metre freestyle relay team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens ...

(54.37),

Ranomi Kromowidjojo Ranomi Kromowidjojo (; born 20 August 1990) is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch- Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m free ...

(53.39) and

Femke Heemskerk Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk (; born 21 September 1987) is a former Dutch competitive swimmerMarleen Veldhuis Magdalena Johanna Maria "Marleen" Veldhuis (born 29 June 1979) is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. She was world record holder in four events (one individual event and three relay events). Veldhuis won eight world championships gold medals ...

the anchor duties on the final exchange to cruise the field down the stretch in 52.58 and to snatch the freestyle relay title with an Olympic record of 3:33.76. Competing in her fifth Olympics since 1984, U.S. legend

Dara Torres Dara Grace Torres (born April 15, 1967) is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events. Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Gam ...

anchored her team with a remarkable split of 52.44, the second-fastest of all time, to deliver the foursome of

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 ...

(54.00),

Lacey Nymeyer Lacey Pearl Nymeyer (born October 29, 1985) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Personal Nymeyer is a Tucson native who graduated in 2004 from Mountain View High School. She is also a ...

(53.91), and Kara Lynn Joyce (53.98) a silver medal in a new American record of 3:34.33. Meanwhile, Australia's

Cate Campbell Cate Natalie Campbell, (born 20 May 1992) is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimmer, and a current multiple world record holder, who won two bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a gold a ...

(54.43), Alice Mills (54.43), Melanie Schlanger (53.85), and

Lisbeth Trickett Lisbeth Constance Trickett, OAM (; born 28 January 1985) is a retired Australian swimmer. She was a gold medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the world record holder in the shor ...

(52.34) powered home with a bronze in an Oceanian record of 3:35.05, holding off the fast-pacing Chinese squad of

Zhu Yingwen Zhu Yingwen (; born September 9, 1981, in Shanghai) is a female Olympic medal-winning swimmer from the People's Republic of China, who competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Along with Xu Yanwei, Yang Yu, and Pang Jiaying Pang Jiayi ...

(54.12), Tang Yi (54.19),

Xu Yanwei Xu Yanwei (; born 14 June 1984 in Shanghai) is an Olympic medal-winning swimmer from the People's Republic of China, who became part of the Chinese national swimming team in 2000. She competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She was part o ...

(54.64), and

Pang Jiaying Pang Jiaying (; born January 6, 1985, in Shanghai) is a female Chinese freestyle swimmer who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of ...

(52.69) by 59-hundredths of a second, a superb Asian standard of 3:35.64.

Britta Steffen Britta Steffen (; born 16 November 1983) is a German competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle sprint events. Biography In 1999, Steffen won six titles at the European Junior Championships, and won a medal as a member of Germany's rela ...

shaved off Inge de Bruijn's 2000 Olympic record by 0.39 seconds with a blazing split of 53.38 to take an early lead for the Germans, but the other threesome of Meike Freitag (54.30), Daniela Götz (55.34), and Antje Buschschulte (53.83) could not maintain their pace and thereby occupied the fifth spot in 3:36.85. France (3:37.68), Great Britain (3:38.18), and Canada (3:38.32) picked up the remaining places to complete a close finish.

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 - Women's 4 by 100 metre freestyle relay Women's freestyle relay 4 x 100 metre 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay Olympics 2008 in women's swimming Women's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics