The men's 4 × 100 metre medley 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, the ...

took place on 3–4 August 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 Olymp ...

London, United Kingdom London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. In the final race of his unprecedented career before a temporary retirement,

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 ...

topped off with his eighteenth gold and twenty-second overall to officially become the most decorated Olympian of all time, as the U.S. men's team posted a textile best to defend the Olympic medley relay title since the event's inception in 1960. Trading the lead with Japan throughout the race, the solid foursome of

Matt Grevers Matthew Grevers (born March 26, 1985) is an American competition swimmer who competes in the backstroke and freestyle events, and is a six-time Olympic medalist. He has won a total of thirty-three medals in major international competition, fou ...

(52.58),

Brendan Hansen Brendan Joseph Hansen (born August 15, 1981) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a former world record-holder in both the 100-meter and 200-meter ...

(59.19), Phelps (50.73), and

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 ...

(46.85) put together a historic ending with a blazing fast finish in 3:29.35, just a fingertip short of their 2008 Olympic record during the high-tech bodysuit era. Japan's

Ryosuke Irie is a Japanese competitive swimmer who competes in backstroke events. He is a Kindai University student in Osaka. He won a silver medal in the 200 metre backstroke and a bronze in the 100 metre backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics, along wit ...

(52.92),

Kosuke Kitajima is a Japanese retired breaststroke swimmer. He won gold medals at the men's 100 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and the 2008 Summer Olympics – becoming the first and only swimmer to sweep the breaststroke events at ...

(58.64),

Takeshi Matsuda is a retired Japanese Olympic, Asian and National Record holding swimmer. He swam for Japan at the 2004, 2008 Olympics, 2012 Olympics, and 2016 Olympics, winning four medals. At the 2008 Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the men's 200 m butterf ...

(51.20), and Takuro Fujii (48.50) held on an arduous challenge with the Americans throughout the race before Adrian pulled off a lead in the freestyle leg, leaving them with a silver in 3:31.26. Meanwhile,

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 ...

produced a magnificent freestyle anchor of 47.22 to deliver the Aussie foursome of

Hayden Stoeckel Hayden Ernest Stoeckel (born 10 August 1984) is an Olympic and national record-holding backstroke swimmer from Australia. He swam for Australia at the 2008 Olympics where he tied with Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin for the bronze medal in the 100m ...

(53.71),

Christian Sprenger Christian David Sprenger (born 19 December 1985) is an Australian former breaststroke swimmer. He trains at the Commercial Swimming Club under Simon Cusack. Swimming career At the 2008 Australian Swimming Championships he qualified in the 10 ...

(59.05), and

Matt Targett Matthew Robert Targett (born 18 September 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for Premier League club Newcastle United. Targett came through the Southampton academy and was named their ''Young Player of the Season'' in 2 ...

(51.60) a bronze-medal time in 3:31.58. Great Britain's

Liam Tancock Liam John Tancock (born 7 May 1985) is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA world championships, and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. He specialised in backstro ...

(53.40),

Michael Jamieson Michael Jamieson (born 5 August 1988) is a Scottish former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain at the Olympics, FINA world championships and European championships, and Scotland in the Commonwealth Games. Jamieson won the silver ...

(59.27), Michael Rock (51.74), and Adam Brown (47.91) missed the podium by almost three quarters of a second (0.75) with a fourth-place effort in 3:32.32. Meanwhile, Hungary's

László Cseh László Cseh (; born 3 December 1985) is a retired Hungarian competitive swimmer and six-time Olympic medalist. He is a 33-time European Champion. His father, László Cseh Sr., also represented Hungary at the Olympics in swimming. In 2020 ...

(53.40, a national-record split),

Dániel Gyurta Dániel Gyurta (; born 4 May 1989) is a Hungarian former competitive swimmer who mainly competed in the 200-metre breaststroke. In 2016, Gyurta became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he is a member of the European Olympic ...

(59.01), Bence Pulai (51.82), and

Dominik Kozma Dominik Kozma (born 10 April 1991) is a Hungarian swimmer. He is the son of István Kozma, a professional footballer, who played for Dunfermline Athletic from 1989 to 1992. Career 2008 Olympics Kozma made his Olympic debut in 2008, compet ...

(48.79) claimed a fifth spot in 3:33.02 to hold off the agile German foursome of

Helge Meeuw Helge Folkert Meeuw (born 29 August 1984 from Wiesbaden, West Germany) is an Olympic and national record holding swimmer from Germany. He swam for Germany at the: *Olympics: 2004, 2008, 2012 *World Championships: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 *E ...

(53.78),

Christian vom Lehn Christian vom Lehn (born 14 April 1992 in Wuppertal) is a German swimmer. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Bra ...

(1:00.30), and Deibler brothers Steffen (50.91) and

Markus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

(48.07) by four-hundredths of a second, a sixth-place time in 3:33.06. Netherlands (3:33.46) and Canada (3:34.19), anchored by freestyle swimmer and bronze medalist

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 ...

, rounded out a historic championship finale.

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 x 100 metre medley relay Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay 4 × 100 metre medley relay Men's events at the 2012 Summer Olympics