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 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 (54.37), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39) and Femke Heemskerk (53.42) moved the team further into the top spot, until they handed Marleen Veldhuis 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 anchored her team with a remarkable split of 52.44, the second-fastest of all time, to deliver the foursome of Natalie Coughlin (54.00), Lacey Nymeyer (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 (54.43), Alice Mills (54.43), Melanie Schlanger (53.85), and Lisbeth Trickett (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 (54.12), Tang Yi (54.19), Xu Yanwei (54.64), and Pang Jiaying (52.69) by 59-hundredths of a second, a superb Asian standard of 3:35.64.

Britta Steffen shaved off Jodie Henry's 2004 Olympic record by 0.15 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.

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record August 10 Final Inge Dekker (54.37)Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)Femke Heemskerk (53.42)Marleen Veldhuis (52.58) 3:33.76

Results

Heats Rank Heat Lane Nationality Name Time Notes 1 1 3 Zhu Yingwen (54.53) Tang Yi (54.29) Xu Yanwei (55.13) Pang Jiaying (52.83) 3:36.78 Q, AS 2 1 5 Meike Freitag (54.53) Antje Buschschulte (54.29) Daniela Götz (54.54) Britta Steffen (54.16) 3:37.52 Q 3 2 5 Kara Lynn Joyce (54.13) Julia Smit (54.73) Emily Silver (54.81) Lacey Nymeyer (53.86) 3:37.53 Q 4 2 4 Ranomi Kromowidjojo (54.41) Hinkelien Schreuder (55.31) Femke Heemskerk (53.58) Manon van Rooijen (54.31) 3:37.61 Q 5 2 6 Céline Couderc (53.97) Hanna Shcherba-Lorgeril (54.95) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (54.72) Alena Popchanka (54.12) 3:37.76 Q, NR 6 1 4 Cate Campbell (54.65) Alice Mills (54.55) Melanie Schlanger (54.69) Shayne Reese (53.92) 3:37.81 Q 7 2 2 Julia Wilkinson (54.48) Erica Morningstar (54.38) Geneviève Saumur (55.11) Audrey Lacroix (54.85) 3:38.82 Q, NR 8 1 6 Francesca Halsall (54.36) Caitlin McClatchey (54.42) Julia Beckett (55.64) Melanie Marshall (54.76) 3:39.18 Q, NR 9 1 1 Haruka Ueda (55.13) Misaki Yamaguchi (54.14) Asami Kitagawa (54.47) Maki Mita (55.51) 3:39.25 NR 10 1 8 Erika Ferraioli (56.10) Federica Pellegrini (53.42) Maria Laura Simonetto (55.97) Cristina Chiuso (54.93) 3:40.42 NR 11 2 3 Ida Marko-Varga (55.04) Therese Alshammar (54.80) Anna-Karin Kammerling (55.06) Claire Hedenskog (55.62) 3:40.52 12 1 2 Anastasia Aksenova (56.57) Yelena Sokolova (55.20) Daria Belyakina (55.23) Svetlana Karpeeva (55.52) 3:42.52 13 1 7 Tatiana Barbosa (55.08) Flavia Cazziolato (56.13) Michelle Lenhardt (55.90) Monique Ferreira (55.74) 3:42.85 14 2 1 Darya Stepanyuk (55.79) Kateryna Dikidzhi (55.44) Ganna Dzerkal (56.95) Nataliya Khudyakova (56.54) 3:44.72 15 2 7 Melissa Corfe (55.93) Wendy Trott (57.83) Mandy Loots (58.31) Kathryn Meaklim (59.07) 3:51.14 2 8

Final Rank Lane Nationality Names Time Time behind Notes 6 Inge Dekker (54.37) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39) Femke Heemskerk (53.42) Marleen Veldhuis (52.58) 3:33.76 3 Natalie Coughlin (54.00) Lacey Nymeyer (53.91) Kara Lynn Joyce (53.98) Dara Torres (52.44) 3:34.33 0.57 AM 7 Cate Campbell (54.43) Alice Mills (54.43) Melanie Schlanger (53.85) Lisbeth Trickett (52.34) 3:35.05 1.29 OC 4 4 Zhu Yingwen (54.12) Tang Yi (54.19) Xu Yanwei (54.64) Pang Jiaying (52.69) 3:35.64 1.88 AS 5 5 Britta Steffen (53.38) Meike Freitag (54.30) Daniela Götz (55.34) Antje Buschschulte (53.83) 3:36.85 3.09 6 2 Céline Couderc (54.32) Alena Popchanka (54.54) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (54.79) Malia Metella (54.03) 3:37.68 3.92 NR 7 8 Francesca Halsall (53.81) NR Caitlin McClatchey (54.48) Jessica Sylvester (55.34) Melanie Marshall (54.55) 3:38.18 4.42 NR 8 1 Julia Wilkinson (54.33) Erica Morningstar (54.35) Geneviève Saumur (54.68) Audrey Lacroix (54.96) 3:38.32 4.56 NR

References

External links Official Olympic Report