The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

took place on 29 July at the

London Aquatics Centre The London Aquatics Centre is an indoor facility with two swimming pools and a diving pool in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. The centre, designed by architect Zaha Hadid as one of the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olympic ...

London, United Kingdom London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. Four years after winning the silver medal in this event, the French men's team won gold for the first time as they edged out the Americans and the Australians with the help of a sterling anchor leg from

Yannick Agnel Yannick Agnel (born 9 June 1992) is a French former competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle events, and is a three-time Olympic medalist. In his Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won gold in the 200-meter frees ...

. Trailing behind by 0.55 seconds at the final exchange, Agnel blistered the field with a remarkable split of 46.74 to deliver the foursome of

Amaury Leveaux Amaury Raymond Leveaux (born 2 December 1985) is a French swimmer from Belfort. Leveaux is a former world record holder in the 100 m freestyle (short course – 44.94 sec), the 50 m freestyle (short course – 20.48 sec), and the 50 m butte ...

(48.13), Fabien Gilot (47.67), and

Clément Lefert Clément Lefert (born 26 September 1987 in Nice) is a retired French Olympic champion in swimming. He won a gold medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the 4 × 100 meters freestyle relay, with teammates Amaury Leveaux, Fabien Gilot, and ...

(47.39) a gold-medal time in 3:09.93. Meanwhile, the U.S. team of

Nathan Adrian Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian (born December 7, 1988) is an American competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist who formerly held the American record in the long course 50-meter freestyle event. In his Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer O ...

(47.89),

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 med ...

(47.15), and

Cullen Jones Cullen Andrew Jones (born February 29, 1984) is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who specializes in freestyle sprint events. As part of the American team, he holds the world record in the 4×100-meter freestyle ...

(47.60) handed

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 ...

the anchor duties to maintain their lead, but Lochte's split of 47.74 was just a full second behind Agnel's anchor that sealed a stunning triumph for the French, leaving the U.S. with a silver medal in 3:10.38. With the second-place finish, Phelps also earned his first-ever Olympic silver medal to raise his overall tally to seventeen, (including 14 gold and 2 bronze), bringing him a single step closer to the all-time record held by

Larisa Latynina Larisa Semyonovna Latynina (russian: link=yes, Лариса Семёновна Латынина, née Diriy, Дирий; born 27 December 1934) is a former Soviet artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and ...

. The Russian quartet of Andrey Grechin (48.57),

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 20 ...

(47.39), Vladimir Morozov (47.85), and

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, as ...

(47.60) took home the bronze in 3:11.41 to edge out the more aggressive Aussie foursome of

James Magnussen James Magnussen (born 11 April 1991) is a retired Australian swimmer and Olympic medallist. He was the 2011 and 2013 100-metre freestyle world champion, and holds the record for the fifth fastest swim in history in the 100-metre freestyle, wi ...

(48.03), Matt Targett (47.83),

Eamon Sullivan Eamon Wade Sullivan (born 30 August 1985) is an Australian former sprint swimmer, three-time Olympic medallist, and former world record-holder in two events. He was also the winner of the first season of '' Celebrity MasterChef Australia'', an ...

(47.68), and James Roberts (48.09) by 0.22 seconds, finishing with a fourth-place time in 3:11.63. South Africa's solid foursome of Gideon Louw (48.48),

Darian Townsend Darian Roy Townsend (born 28 August 1984) is a competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who competed for South Africa. He became a U.S. citizen during the summer of 2014, and has subsequently represented the United States in international ...

(48.36),

Graeme Moore Graeme John Moore (born 28 January 1989, Johannesburg) is a South African swimmer. He competed for South Africa at the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012 ...

(48.36), and Roland Mark Schoeman (48.27) struggled to mount a challenge in a world-record race as they finished fifth in 3:13.45, holding off the hard-charging Germans Benjamin Starke (49.03), Markus Deibler (47.97), Christoph Fildebrandt (48.45), and

Marco di Carli Marco di Carli (born April 12, 1985, in Löningen, Lower Saxony, West Germany) is a German swimmer who specialisms are backstroke and freestyle swimming, freestyle. He swims at the SG Frankfurt club and is 1.89 metres (6'2") tall and weighs ...

(48.07) by seven-hundredths of a second with a sixth-place finish (3:13.52). Italy (3:14.13) and Belgium (3:14.40) also vied for an Olympic medal to round out a historic finish. In the absence of

César Cielo César Augusto Cielo Filho (, born 10 January 1987) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in sprint events. He is the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history, having obtained three Olympic medals, winning six individual Wor ...

on the morning prelims, Brazil's

Nicolas Oliveira Nicolas Nilo César de Oliveira (born 4 August 1987) is a Brazilian former freestyle swimmer who specialized in sprint events. International career 2006–2008 Oliveira swam at the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, where he finished ...

(49.31),

Bruno Fratus Bruno Giuseppe Fratus (born 30 June 1989) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. He won a bronze medal in the 50-metre freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In July 2021, Fratus became the first swimmer in history to swim the long cours ...

(48.98),

Nicholas Santos Nicholas Araújo Dias dos Santos (born 14 February 1980) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle and butterfly sprint events. He swims for Esporte Clube Pinheiros. He swam the 50-metre freestyle at the 2008 Summer Olympic ...

(49.68), and

Marcelo Chierighini Marcelo Chierighini (born 15 January 1991) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. In the 100 metre freestyle, he was an Olympic finalist at the Rio 2016 Games, and four times in a row a finalist at the World Championships in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 20 ...

(48.17) missed the final roster by almost half a second (0.50) with a ninth-place effort (3:16.14), repeating their performance from the

2011 World Aquatics Championships The 14th FINA World Championships () were held on 16–31 July 2011 in Shanghai, China at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. The 2011 World Championships featured five aquatics disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, open water, and synch ...

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Results

Heats

Final

References

External links

NBC Olympics Coverage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 by 100 metre freestyle relay Men's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics