The women's 4 × 100 metres relay competition at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place on 9–10 August at the Olympic Stadium. The victorious United States team broke the world record by over half a second. The previous record had been set 27 years previously by East Germany. The Jamaican team, 6 metres back, missed the previous world record by 0.04, but set a new national record. Another 7 metres back, Ukraine took the bronze, also setting a new national record.

Records , the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record(Silke Gladisch, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Göhr)41.37Canberra, Australia6 October 1985Olympic record(Romy Müller, Bärbel Wöckel, Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Göhr)41.60Moscow, Soviet Union1 August 19802012 World leading(Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter)42.19Philadelphia, United States28 April 2012

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Name Nationality Time Record 10 August 2012 Final Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter 40.82 10 August 2012 Final Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kerron Stewart 41.41 NR 10 August 2012 Final Olesya Povh, Hrystyna Stuy, Mariya Ryemyen, Elyzaveta Bryzgina 42.04 NR 9 August 2012 Round 1 Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Kai Selvon, Semoy Hackett 42.31 NR 9 August 2012 Round 1 Kadene Vassell, Dafne Schippers, Eva Lubbers, Jamile Samuel 42.45 NR 9 August 2012 Round 1 Ana Claudia Silva, Franciela Krasucki, Evelyn dos Santos, Rosângela Santos 42.55 AR

Results

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 3 of each heat (Q) plus the 2 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes1 2 Tianna Madison, Jeneba Tarmoh, Bianca Knight, Lauryn Williams 41.64 Q, SB2 4 Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Kai Selvon, Semoy Hackett 42.31 Q, NR3 8 Kadene Vassell, Dafne Schippers, Eva Lubbers, Jamile Samuel 42.45 Q, NR4 7 Ana Claudia Silva, Franciela Krasucki, Evelyn dos Santos, Rosângela Santos 42.55 q, AR5 3 Christy Udoh, Gloria Asumnu, Oludamola Osayomi, Blessing Okagbare 42.74 q, SB 6 9 Sheniqua Ferguson, Chandra Sturrup, Christine Amertil, Anthonique Strachan 43.07 SB 7 6 Michelle Cueni, Mujinga Kambundji, Ellen Sprunger, Léa Sprunger 43.54 PB 8 5 Anna Doi, Kana Ichikawa, Chisato Fukushima, Yumeka Sano 44.25

Heat 2

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes1 4 Olesya Povh, Hrystyna Stuy, Mariya Ryemyen, Elyzaveta Bryzgina 42.36 Q, SB2 6 Samantha Henry-Robinson, Sherone Simpson, Schillonie Calvert, Kerron Stewart 42.37 Q, SB 3 9 Leena Günther, Anne Cibis, Tatjana Pinto, Verena Sailer 42.69 Q4 2 Marika Popowicz, Daria Korczynska, Marta Jeschke, Ewelina Ptak 43.07 5 5 Yomara Hinestroza, Norma González, Darlenis Obregón, Eliecith Palacios 43.21 SB 6 7 Olga Belkina, Natalia Rusakova, Elizabeta Savlinis, Aleksandra Fedoriva 43.24 SB 7 3 Alina Talay, Katsiaryna Hanchar, Elena Danilyuk-Nevmerzhytskaya, Yuliya Balykina 43.90 8 Myriam Soumaré, Ayodelé Ikuesan, Lina Jacques-Sébastien, Johanna Danois DQ R 163.3a France originally finished in seventh place with a time of 43.77, but were disqualified due to a lane infringement.

Final At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, both the men's and women's 4 × 100 metres teams had dropped the baton, leading one reporter to call it the "nadir in US relay history".

On the first leg of the final, Tianna Madison was almost equal with 100-metre gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica. Allyson Felix put the USA into a clear lead, extended to 3 metres by Bianca Knight around the turn. 100-metre silver medalist Carmelita Jeter held on to finish comfortably in front of Jamaica co.

Rank Lane Nation Competitors Time Notes 7 Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter 40.82 6 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Kerron Stewart 41.41 NR 5 Olesya Povh, Hrystyna Stuy, Mariya Ryemyen, Elyzaveta Bryzgina 42.04 NR4 2 Oludamola Osayomi, Gloria Asumnu, Endurance Abinuwa, Blessing Okagbare 42.64 SB5 8 Leena Günther, Anne Cibis, Tatjana Pinto, Verena Sailer 42.67 6 9 Kadene Vassell, Dafne Schippers, Eva Lubbers, Jamile Samuel 42.70 7 3 Ana Claudia Silva, Franciela Krasucki, Evelyn dos Santos, Rosângela Santos 42.91 4 Michelle-Lee Ahye, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Kai Selvon, Semoy Hackett DNF

References