The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 13–14 August at the

Beijing National Aquatics Center The Water Cube (水立方), fully a.k.a. the National Aquatics Centre (), is a swimming center at the Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The Water Cube was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at ...

Beijing, China Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. For the first time since the event's inception in 1996, the Aussies smashed a new world record to overhaul the undefeated Americans for an Olympic title with a benefit of a sterling opening leg from

Stephanie Rice Stephanie Louise Rice, OAM (born 17 June 1988) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009. On 9 April 2 ...

. Starting the program's longest relay race with a remarkable Oceanian-record split of 1:56.60, Rice and her teammates

Bronte Barratt Bronte Amelia Arnold Barratt, (born 8 February 1989) is an Australian retired competitive swimmer and Olympic gold medallist. Career Born in Brisbane on 8 February 1989, Barratt was coached by John Rodgers at the Albany Creek Swim Club. At th ...

(1:56.58),

Kylie Palmer Kylie Jayne Palmer, OAM (born 25 February 1990), is an Australian distance freestyle swimmer. She attended Grace Lutheran College, Rothwell. She was Sports Captain for her house, Pegasus and represented the school in many aquatic events. Sh ...

(1:55.22), and

Linda Mackenzie Linda June Mackenzie, OAM (born 14 December 1983) is an Australian freestyle swimmer. She preferred the longer 200-, 400-, and 800-metre events and won the Australian 400-metre national title five years in a row (2004–2008). She was part o ...

(1:55.91) registered a gold-medal time of 7:44.31 to shave nearly six seconds off the previous world record set by their greatest rivals in 2007. China's

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 ...

expanded her stretch over U.S. swimmer

Katie Hoff Kathryn Elise Hoff (born June 3, 1989) is a former American competitive swimming (sport), swimmer, Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. Hoff was known for the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley events. She represented the Uni ...

with an anchor of 1:54.39 to deliver the foursome of Yang Yu (1:56.79),

Zhu Qianwei Zhu Qianwei (; born September 18, 1990 in Shanghai) is a Chinese swimmer, who competed for Team China at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijin ...

(1:56.64), and

Tan Miao Tan Miao (born January 6, 1987, in Jinan, Shandong) is a female Chinese swimmer, who won a silver medal for China at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially b ...

(1:58.11) a superb Asian record time of 7:45.93, and a silver medal for the host nation. After a disappointing Olympic campaign, the U.S. team of

Allison Schmitt Allison Rodgers Schmitt (born June 7, 1990) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist. In her Olympic debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Sc ...

(1:57.71),

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 World record progre ...

(1:57.19),

Caroline Burckle Caroline Stilwell Axel Burckle (born June 24, 1986) is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic bronze medalist. Early years Burckle was born in Louisville, Kentucky. She attended Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, and graduated i ...

(1:56.70), and Hoff (1:54.73) finally found the best form on the blazing anchor leg to end the race for the bronze in 7:46.33, finishing nearly four seconds under the old world record. Italy's Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31),

Alessia Filippi Alessia Filippi (born 23 June 1987 in Rome) is a retired Italian swimmer. Filippi won the gold medal in the 1500 m at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Biography Filippi excels in backstroke and individual medley races, as well as in m ...

(1:56.68),

Flavia Zoccari Flavia Zoccari (born 1 November 1986) is an Italian freestyle swimmer who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an in ...

(1:59.80), and

Federica Pellegrini Federica Pellegrini (; born 5 August 1988) is an Italian retired swimmer. A native of Mirano, in the former province of Venice (Metropolitan City of Venice since 2015), she won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2009 World Cha ...

(1:54.97) missed out the podium by over three seconds with a fourth-place time and a European record of 7:49.76. Meanwhile, the French quartet of

Coralie Balmy Coralie Balmy (born 8 June 1987) is a French freestyle swimmer. Balmy was born in La Trinité, Martinique. She won her first senior title at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven in the 4 × 200 m relay freestyle. At the same ...

(1:56.57),

Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (born 9 September 1990) is a French swimmer from Wissembourg. In the 2012 Summer Olympics her 4 × 200 m freestyle team won a bronze medal in a time of 7:47.49. The split times were: Camille Muffat (1:55.51); Charlotte ...

(1:57.95),

Aurore Mongel Aurore Mongel (born 19 April 1982 in Épinal, France) is a national record holding and Olympic butterfly swimmer from France. She swam for France at the 2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympia ...

(1:58.62), and

Camille Muffat Camille Muffat (; 28 October 1989 – 9 March 2015) was a French Swimming (sport), swimmer and three-time Summer Olympic Games, Olympic Olympic medal, medalist. Swimming for the Olympic Nice Natation club, she specialised in the individual medl ...

(1:57.52) occupied the fifth spot in 7:50.66. Earlier in the prelims, Muffat (1:57.32), Balmy (1:55.86),

Céline Couderc Céline Couderc (born 11 March 1983 in Avignon, Vaucluse) is a female freestyle swimmer from France, who twice competed for her native country at the Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games ...

(1:58.92), and

Alena Popchanka Alena Popchanka (born 28 July 1979 in Gomel, Belarus) is a 4-time Olympic freestyle and butterfly swimmer originally from Belarus. She swam for Belarus at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics. At the 2008 Olympics she swam for France; after her mar ...

(1:58.27), previously competed for Belarus in three Games, established a new Olympic record of 7:50.37 to close the session with a final top seed. Hungary (7:55.53), Japan (7:57.56), and Sweden (7:59.83) rounded out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight teams finished the race under eight minutes due to the presence of technology suits.

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 200 metre freestyle relay Women's freestyle relay 4 by 200 metre 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay 2008 in women's swimming Women's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics