Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
| Women's 4×200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
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| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||
| Date | August 13, 2008 (heats) August 14, 2008 (final) |
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| Competitors | 75 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 7:44.31 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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 Australia (AUS)Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer, Linda Mackenzie, Felicity Galvez*, Angie Bainbridge*, Melanie Schlanger*, Lara Davenport* |
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 China (CHN)Yang Yu, Zhu Qianwei, Tan Miao, Pang Jiaying, Tang Jingzhi* |
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*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats. |
United States (USA)
Allison Schmitt, Natalie Coughlin, Caroline Burckle, Katie Hoff, Christine Marshall*, Kim Vandenberg*, Julia Smit*
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 in Beijing, China.
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. Starting the program's longest relay race with a remarkable Oceanian-record split of 1:56.60, Rice and her teammates Bronte Barratt (1:56.58), Kylie Palmer (1:55.22), and Linda Mackenzie (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 expanded her stretch over U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff with an anchor of 1:54.39 to deliver the foursome of Yang Yu (1:56.79), Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64), and Tan Miao (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 (1:57.71), Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19), Caroline Burckle (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.
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