Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay

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Women's 4×100 metre freestyle relay
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueBeijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 9, 2008 (heats)
August 10, 2008 (final)
Competitors67 from 16 nations
Winning time3:33.76 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Netherlands (NED)
Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk, Marleen Veldhuis, Hinkelien Schreuder*, Manon van Rooijen*
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  United States (USA)
Natalie Coughlin, Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce, Dara Torres, Emily Silver*, Julia Smit*
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)

 Australia (AUS)
Cate Campbell, Alice Mills, Melanie Schlanger, Lisbeth Trickett, Shayne Reese*


*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats.
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Swimming at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Sample picture of the event (unofficial)
Qualification
Freestyle
50 mmenwomen
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
800 mwomen
1500 mmen
Backstroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Breaststroke
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Butterfly
100 mmenwomen
200 mmenwomen
Individual medley
200 mmenwomen
400 mmenwomen
Freestyle relay
4×100 mmenwomen
4×200 mmenwomen
Medley relay
4×100 mmenwomen
Marathon
10 kmmenwomen
  • v
  • t

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.[1]

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.[2][3]

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.[4][5] 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.[6][7]

Britta Steffen shaved off Inge de Bruijn's 2000 Olympic record by 0.39 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.[8] France (3:37.68), Great Britain (3:38.18), and Canada (3:38.32) picked up the remaining places to complete a close finish.[7]

Records[]

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

World record  Netherlands (NED)
Inge Dekker (53.77)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.61)
Femke Heemskerk (53.62)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.62)		 3:33.62 Eindhoven, Netherlands 18 March 2008 [9]
Olympic record  Australia (AUS)
Alice Mills (54.75)
Lisbeth Lenton (53.57)
Petria Thomas (54.67)
Jodie Henry (52.95)		 3:35.94 Athens, Greece 14 August 2004 -

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)		  Netherlands 3:33.76 OR

Results[]

Heats[]

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

Final[]

Rank Lane Nationality Names Time Time behind Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 6  Netherlands Inge Dekker (54.37)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39)
Femke Heemskerk (53.42)
Marleen Veldhuis (52.58)		 3:33.76 OR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3  United States Natalie Coughlin (54.00)
Lacey Nymeyer (53.91)
Kara Lynn Joyce (53.98)
Dara Torres (52.44)		 3:34.33 0.57 AM
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7  Australia Cate Campbell (54.43)
Alice Mills (54.43)
Melanie Schlanger (53.85)
Lisbeth Trickett (52.34)		 3:35.05 1.29 OC
4 4  China Zhu Yingwen (54.12)
Tang Yi (54.19)
Xu Yanwei (54.64)
Pang Jiaying (52.69)		 3:35.64 1.88 AS
5 5  Germany Britta Steffen (53.38) OR
Meike Freitag (54.30)
Daniela Götz (55.34)
Antje Buschschulte (53.83)		 3:36.85 3.09
6 2  France Céline Couderc (54.32)
Alena Popchanka (54.54)
Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (54.79)
Malia Metella (54.03)		 3:37.68 3.92
7 8  Great Britain 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  Canada Julia Wilkinson (54.33)
Erica Morningstar (54.35)
Geneviève Saumur (54.68)
Audrey Lacroix (54.96)		 3:38.32 4.56

References[]

  1. ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ Baldwin, Alan (10 August 2008). "Veldhuis anchors Dutch to relay gold". Reuters. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Holland team claim gold". Sky Sports. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Torres wins 10th career Olympic medal in relay". Team USA. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  5. ^ Clarey, Christopher (10 August 2008). "With Silver, Torres Sets Age Record for Medalist". New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. ^ Paxinos, Stathi (10 August 2008). "Bronze is just the start for Cate, declares coach". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b Lohn, John (9 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Netherlands Claims Gold Medal in Women's 400 Freestyle Relay With Olympic Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Dutch women take freestyle gold". BBC Sport. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  9. ^ "Netherlands sets world record in women's 400 freestyle relay". International Herald Tribune. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.

External links[]

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