The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.

The U.S. women's team smashed a new Olympic record to recapture their freestyle relay title with the help of a sterling anchor leg from Allison Schmitt. Trailing throughout most of the race with a back-to-back lead from Australia and France before the final exchange, Schmitt demolished the field with a remarkable split of 1:54.09 to deliver the American foursome of Missy Franklin (1:55.96), Dana Vollmer (1:56.02), and Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85) a gold medal and an Olympic record in 7:42.92.

Australia's Bronte Barratt (1:55.76), Melanie Schlanger (1:55.62), and Kylie Palmer (1:56.91) handed Alicia Coutts the anchor duties at the final exchange with a 0.54-second lead, but Coutts' split of 1:56.12 was just over a full-body length behind Schmitt's stunning anchor, leaving them with a silver medal in 7:44.41. Meanwhile, the fantastic French quartet of Camille Muffat (1:55.51), Charlotte Bonnet (1:57.78), Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:58.05), and Coralie Balmy (1:56.15) took home the bronze in 7:47.49.

Canada's Barbara Jardin (1:57.96), Samantha Cheverton (1:56.91), Amanda Reason (1:59.32), and Brittany MacLean (1:56.46) missed the podium with a fourth-place time in 7:50.65, while Great Britain's home favorite foursome of Caitlin McClatchey (1:58.66), Rebecca Turner (1:57.39), Hannah Miley (1:58.12), and Joanne Jackson (1:58.20) struggled to mount a challenge in an Olympic-medal race as they finished fifth in 7:52.37. China (7:53.11), led by medley double champion Ye Shiwen, Italy (7:56.30), and Japan (7:56.73) rounded out the championship finale.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

The following records were established during the competition:

Date Event Name Nation Time Record August 1 Final Missy Franklin (1:55.96)Dana Vollmer (1:56.02)Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85)Allison Schmitt (1:54.09) 7:42.92

Results

Heats

Rank Heat Lane Nation Swimmers Time Notes1 1 4 Brittany Elmslie (1:57.50) Angie Bainbridge (1:57.70) Jade Neilsen (1:57.25) Blair Evans (1:56.99)7:49.44 Q2 2 4 Lauren Perdue (1:58.07) Shannon Vreeland (1:57.04) Alyssa Anderson (1:57.33) Dana Vollmer (1:58.31)7:50.75 Q3 1 5 Barbara Jardin (1:57.76) Samantha Cheverton (1:57.38) Amanda Reason (1:58.51) Brittany MacLean (1:57.19) 7:50.84 Q4 2 6 Alice Mizzau (1:57.95) Alice Nesti (1:59.80) Diletta Carli (1:58.54) Federica Pellegrini (1:56.46) 7:52.75Q5 1 3 Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:58.43) Margaux Farrell (2:00.06) Mylène Lazare (1:58.82) Camille Muffat (1:55.57) 7:52.88 Q 6 2 5 Zhu Qianwei (1:59.23) Liu Jing (1:58.00) Chen Qian (1:58.17) Pang Jiaying (1:58.26) 7:53.66 Q7 1 6 Caitlin McClatchey (1:58.22) Rebecca Turner (1:57.87) Ellie Faulkner (1:59.36) Joanne Jackson (1:58.86) 7:54.31 Q8 1 2 Haruka Ueda (1:57.70) Hanae Ito (1:58.12) Yayoi Matsumoto (1:59.67) Aya Takano (1:59.07)7:54.56 Q9 2 3 Ágnes Mutina (2:00.06) Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:57.59)Katinka Hosszú (1:57.84) Evelyn Verrasztó (1:59.09) 7:54.58 10 1 1 Melania Costa Schmid (1:57.66) Patricia Castro (1:58.09) Lydia Morant (1:59.66) Mireia Belmonte García (1:59.18) 7:54.59 NR11 2 2 Natasha Hind (1:58.79) Samantha Lucie-Smith (1:58.89) Amaka Gessler (1:59.03) Melissa Ingram (1:59.21) 7:55.92 NR12 1 7 Mariya Baklakova (2:00.75) Elena Sokolova (1:58.33) Veronika Popova (1:58.48) Daria Belyakina (1:58.94) 7:56.50 13 2 7 Silke Lippok (1:58.43) Theresa Michalak (2:00.65) Annika Bruhn (1:59.61) Daniela Schreiber (2:00.24) 7:58.93 14 2 1 Sara Isaković (1:59.58) Anja Klinar (2:00.53) Urša Bežan (2:01.92) Mojca Sagmeister (2:02.66) 8:04.69 15 1 8 Daryna Zevina (1:59.68) Ganna Dzerkal (2:04.68) Darya Stepanyuk (2:05.49) Iryna Glavnyk (2:02.82) 8:12.67 16 2 8 Katarzyna Wilk (2:05.46) Karolina Szczepaniak (2:02.99) Diana Sokołowska (2:01.45) Alexandra Putra (2:03.86) 8:13.76

Final

Rank Lane Nation Swimmers Time Time Behind Notes 5 Missy Franklin (1:55.96) Dana Vollmer (1:56.02) Shannon Vreeland (1:56.85) Allison Schmitt (1:54.09) 7:42.92 4 Bronte Barratt (1:55.76) Melanie Schlanger (1:55.62) Kylie Palmer (1:56.91) Alicia Coutts (1:56.12) 7:44.41 1.49 2 Camille Muffat (1:55.51) Charlotte Bonnet (1:57.78) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:58.05) Coralie Balmy (1:56.15) 7:47.49 4.57 NR 4 3 Barbara Jardin (1:57.96) Samantha Cheverton (1:56.91) Amanda Reason (1:59.32) Brittany MacLean (1:56.46) 7:50.65 7.73 5 1 Caitlin McClatchey (1:58.66) Rebecca Turner (1:57.39) Hannah Miley (1:58.12) Joanne Jackson (1:58.20) 7:52.37 9.45 6 7 Wang Shijia (1:58.32) Ye Shiwen (1:57.37) Liu Jing (1:59.51) Tang Yi (1:57.91) 7:53.11 10.19 7 6 Alice Mizzau (1:58.93) Alice Nesti (2:00.03) Diletta Carli (1:59.73) Federica Pellegrini (1:57.61) 7:56.30 13.38 8 8 Haruka Ueda (1:58.23) Hanae Ito (1:58.26) Yayoi Matsumoto (2:00.82) Aya Takano (1:59.42) 7:56.73 13.81

References

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