The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10–11 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 ...

. Prior to the race, the French team was reported to be very confident of its ultimate victory, with world record holder

Alain Bernard Alain Bernard (; born 1 May 1983) is a former French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône. Bernard won a total of four medals (two golds, one silver, and one bronze) at two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012). He also won numerous medals at the W ...

saying: "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That’s what we came here for." Trailing the French team by nearly 6/10th of a second entering the final leg, the U.S. team came from behind to set a new world record and most importantly, to capture the elusive freestyle relay title after 12 years. Diving into the pool at the final exchange,

Jason Lezak Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...

chased down world record-holder Frenchman Alain Bernard on the 50-metre final length and touched the wall first with a scintillating anchor time of 46.06, the fastest ever split in the event's history, to deliver the foursome of

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 ...

(47.51, an American record),

Garrett Weber-Gale Garrett Weber-Gale (born August 6, 1985) is an American competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and world record-holder in two events. Early life Weber-Gale is Jewish, and was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He graduated from Nic ...

(47.02), and

Cullen Jones Cullen Andrew Jones (born February 29, 1984) is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who specializes in Freestyle swimming, freestyle sprint events. As part of the American team, he holds the List of world records in ...

(47.65) the gold-medal in a world-record time of 3:08.24. Lezak’s comeback is often considered to be the greatest the sport has ever seen. After the 1st three legs, France's

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 butterfl ...

(47.91),

Fabien Gilot Fabien Pierre Aurélien Dominique Gilot (born 27 April 1984) is a French Olympic and world champion swimmer. Early life Gilot was born in Denain, France, to Michel and Yveline Gilot. He started by playing water polo, before switching to swimmi ...

(47.05), and

Frédérick Bousquet Frédérick Bousquet (, born 8 April 1981 in Perpignan) is a retired freestyle and butterfly swimmer from France. He was the holder of the world record in the 50 m freestyle in a time of 20.94 in long course, set on 26 April 2009 at the ...

(46.63) had delivered Bernard a lead of more than a half-second (.59). However, despite producing the 3rd-fastest split of the event, Bernard's time of 46.73 was still 0.67 seconds slower than Lezak's split, leaving the French team with the Silver medal in a European record of 3:08.32. Meanwhile,

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'', a ...

smashed the world record split of 47.24 to hand the Aussies an early lead, but his teammates

Andrew Lauterstein Andrew George Lauterstein (born 22 May 1987) is an Australian swimmer and a three-time Olympic medalist. Personal Lauterstein grew up in Black Rock, Victoria and attended Brighton Grammar School. He has an elder brother and a younger siste ...

(47.87), Ashley Callus (47.55), 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 ...

(47.25) could not maintain the pace in the succeeding laps to end the race with a bronze-medal time of 3:09.91. Italy's Alessandro Calvi (48.49),

Christian Galenda Christian Galenda (born 18 January 1982) is a freestyle swimmer from Italy, who won the bronze medal in the men's individual 100 metres freestyle event at the 2004 European Championships. He represented his native country a couple of months la ...

(47.49),

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 ...

(48.23), 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 ...

(47.27) finished fourth in 3:11.65, while the Swedish foursome of

Petter Stymne Petter Stymne (born 9 May 1983 in Ryd, Sweden) is a Swedish swimmer from Skövde, representing SK Neptun from Stockholm. He competed for his native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Stymne became gold medalist and world rec ...

(49.17), five-time Olympian

Lars Frölander Lars Arne Frölander (born 26 May 1974) is a Swedish swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012). Biography Frölander was born in Boden. He grew up in Ornäs in Borlänge Municipality. In ...

(48.02), Stefan Nystrand (47.25), and Jonas Persson (47.48) cracked a 3:12-barrier to earn a fifth spot in 3:11.92. Outside the club, 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 ...

(47.56, a national record), Joel Greenshields (47.77), Colin Russell (48.49), and three-time Olympian

Rick Say Richard Say (born May 18, 1979) is a three-time Olympic and National record-holding swimmer from Canada. Say swam as a child for the Salmon Arm Sockeye Swim Club with his two brothers and two sisters. At the age of 18, he began attending the Uni ...

(48.44) posted a sixth-place time of 3:12.26, while defending Olympic champions and South African quartet of

Lyndon Ferns Lyndon Ferns (born 24 September 1983 in Pietersburg, South Africa) is a retired Olympic gold-medalist and former world record swimmer from South Africa. He swam for South Africa at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he was a ...

(48.15),

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 ...

(48.11),

Roland Mark Schoeman Roland Mark Schoeman OIS (born 4 July 1980) is a South African American swimmer and was a member of the South African swimming team at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In May 2022, he officially became United States citizen. Ca ...

(48.32), and

Ryk Neethling Ryk Neethling OIS (born 17 November 1977) is a South African businessman who rose to prominence as the three-times World Champion and four-times World Record Breaking Olympic swimming champion. He is known as one of the most accomplished swim ...

(48.08) produced a seventh-place effort and an African record of 3:12.66 to lower their standard by more than half a second. Great Britain's

Simon Burnett Simon Andrew Burnett (born 14 April 1983) is an English former competition swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships, and England in the Commonwealth Games. He formerly held the British Records in the ...

(48.34), Adam Brown (47.75),

Benjamin Hockin Benjamin Hockin Brusquetti (born 27 September 1986) is an Olympic freestyle swimmer, who has swum international for both Great Britain and Paraguay (his father is British, his mother is Paraguayan). Hockin represented Great Britain at the 2008 ...

(48.50), and

Ross Davenport Ross Paul Davenport (born 23 May 1984) is an English competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain in the Olympics, world and European championships, and swam for England in the Commonwealth Games. He won two gold medals in the 2006 Com ...

(48.28) rounded out the field in eighth place at 3:12.87. Due to the presence of technology suits in the pool, all eight teams completed a historic relay finish under a 3:13-barrier. Earlier in the prelims, the U.S. men'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 ...

(48.82),

(47.61),

Ben Wildman-Tobriner Benjamin Marshall Wildman-Tobriner (born September 21, 1984) is an American competition swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder. Early life Wildman-Tobriner was born in San Francisco to Michael Tobriner and Stephanie Wil ...

(48.03), and

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 ...

(47.77) took down the world record of 3:12.23 to cut off their own standard by 23-hundredths of a second.

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

New records and feats

In the heats, the United States team set a world record with a team missing some of America's major stars such as

. France and Australia also went faster than the old record even though they rested

and

respectively. During the heats, all five of the continental records were broken. In the final, the United States, France, Australia, Italy, and Sweden teams all finished within the world-record time set by the American team in the heats, the Canada team finished within what was the World record prior to the 2008 Olympics, and all of the teams finished within what was the Olympic record prior to the 2008 Olympics. The world record time was reduced by over 2% during the course of the heats and the final. Italy and Sweden failed to medal despite besting the previous world record. The faster times can also be seen in contrast to the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, in which the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n squad took home the gold medal in world-record fashion. South Africa returned all four members of that 2004 relay team to these Olympics, and they even bettered their previous world-record time by 0.51 s, yet they finished a distant 7th place in Beijing. In fact, all 8 teams swimming in the 2008 finals swam faster than South Africa's gold medal swim of 2004. It is also possible for the swimmers in the first leg to break records for the 100 m freestyle. In the heats,

of France broke the Olympic record, while the world record fell to Australian

in the final. Split times for swimmers not swimming the first leg are ineligible because the incoming swimmer can lean over in front of the blocks and be diving as the preceding swimmer is coming in, whereas the leadoff swimmer is timed from a stationary start. Thus, the world record was Sullivan's, even though five swimmers in the finals alone had faster times, including

, whose 46.06 seconds is the fastest individual leg in a 100 m freestyle or medley relay in history. Two days later,

reclaimed the record for France, recording a 47.20 time in the first semifinal of the 100m freestyle, only to have Sullivan break the record again, winning the second semifinal in 47.05 seconds. The final included a dramatic finish with American

swimming the final 50 meters 0.9 seconds faster than Frenchman

to win the race. He also swam the fastest relay split in history. Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines had the call on NBC:

References

External links

Official Olympic Report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's 4 by 100 metre freestyle relay Men's freestyle relay 4 by 100 metre 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay Men's events at the 2008 Summer Olympics