Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay
| Men's 4×100 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad |
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 The medal ceremony of the event. |
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| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center |
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| Dates | August 10 (qualification) August 11 (final) |
| Competitors | 72 from 16 nations |
| Medalists | |
| «2004 | 2012» |
| Swimming events at the 2008 Summer Olympics  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freestyle | ||||
| 50 m | men | women | ||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| 800 m | women | |||
| 1500 m | men | |||
| Backstroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Breaststroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Butterfly | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Individual medley | ||||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| Freestyle relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| 4×200 m | men | women | ||
| Medley relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| Marathon | ||||
| 10 km | men | women | ||
The Men's 4×100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 10th (qualification) and 11 August (final) at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each of the four swimmers completed two lengths of the pool.
Two heats were held, with each containing the maximum number of teams (eight). The heat in which a team competed did not formally matter for advancement, as the teams with the top eight times from the entire field qualified for the final; there, they all competed in a single final heat to earn final placements. A team could use different swimmers in the final than had swum in the heats.
There were 16 NOCs competing at this event. These 16 NOCs consisted of the 12 best placed teams at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships plus the 4 best times after the qualifying period.
Contents |
[edit] Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  United States (USA)Michael Phelps (48.83) Neil Walker (47.89) Cullen Jones (47.96) Jason Lezak (47.78) |
3:12.46 | Victoria, Canada | 19 August 2006 | [1] |
| Olympic record |  South Africa (RSA)Roland Schoeman (48.17) Lyndon Ferns (48.13) Darian Townsend (48.96) Ryk Neethling (47.91) |
3:13.17 | Athens, Greece | 15 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | OR | WR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 10 | Heat 1 | Nathan Adrian Cullen Jones Ben Wildman-Tobriner Matt Grevers |
United States |
3:12.23 | OR | WR |
| August 11 | Final | Michael Phelps Garrett Weber-Gale Cullen Jones Jason Lezak |
United States |
3:08.24 | OR | WR |
In the heats, the teams with the Top 6 times all swam past the previous Olympic Record; three of which swam faster than the pre-Olympic World Record.
Also, in heat 1 of this event, Amaury Leveaux of France set a new men's 100 metre freestyle Olympic record as the lead-off swimmer. Later Eamon Sullivan of Australia bested this and set a new world record as the lead-off swimmer in the final. This record was later surpassed in the men's 100 metre freestyle semi-final 1 by French swimmer Alain Bernard. Sullivan promptly took the record back in the second semi-final.
In the finals, a team had to break the world record set in the heats the day before just to simply finish in the Top 5.
[edit] Qualification summary
| Pos | NOC | Qualification | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Italy |
2007 FINA World Championships |
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| 2 |  Sweden |
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| 3 | United States |
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| 4 |  Australia |
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| 5 |  France |
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| 6 |  Canada |
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| 7 |  Brazil |
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| 8 | South Africa |
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| 9 |  Great Britain |
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| 10 |  Germany |
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| 11 |  Switzerland |
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| 12 |  Japan |
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| 13 |  Russia |
3:15.42 | 4 best remaining teams |
| 14 |  Netherlands |
3:15.88 | |
| 15 |  China |
3:17.07 | |
| 16 |  New Zealand |
3:17.45 | |
[edit] Heats
[edit] Final
| Rank | Lane | NOC | Names | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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4 | United States |
Michael Phelps (47.51 NR) Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02) Cullen Jones (47.65) Jason Lezak (46.06) |
3:08.24 | WR |
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5 | France |
Amaury Leveaux (47.91) Fabien Gilot (47.05) Frédérick Bousquet (46.63) Alain Bernard (46.73) |
3:08.32 | ER |
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3 | Australia |
Eamon Sullivan (47.24 WR) Andrew Lauterstein (47.87) Ashley Callus (47.55) Matt Targett (47.25) |
3:09.91 | OC, CR |
| 4 | 6 | Italy |
Alessandro Calvi (48.49) Christian Galenda (47.49) Marco Belotti (48.23) Filippo Magnini (47.27) |
3:11.48 | NR |
| 5 | 2 | Sweden |
Petter Stymne (49.17) Lars Frölander (48.02) Stefan Nystrand (47.25) Jonas Persson (47.48) |
3:11.92 | NR |
| 6 | 1 | Canada |
Brent Hayden (47.56 NR) Joel Greenshields (47.77) Colin Russell (48.49) Rick Say (48.44) |
3:12.26 | NR |
| 7 | 7 | South Africa |
Lyndon Ferns (48.15) Darian Townsend (48.11) Roland Schoeman (48.32) Ryk Neethling (48.08) |
3:12.66 | AF |
| 8 | 8 | Great Britain |
Simon Burnett (48.34) Adam Brown (47.75) Benjamin Hockin (48.50) Ross Davenport (48.28) |
3:12.87 | NR |
- Q = Qualified, DSQ = Disqualified
- WR = World Record, OR = Olympic Record
- AF = African Record, AS = Asian Record, ER = European Record, OC = Oceania Record
- CR = Commonwealth Record, NR = National Record
[edit] New records and feats
In the heats, the USA team set a world record with a team missing some of America's major stars such as Michael Phelps. France and Australia also went faster than the old record even though they rested Alain Bernard and Eamon Sullivan respectively. During the heats, all five of the continental records were broken.
In the final, the United States, France, Australia, Italy, and Sweden teams all finished within the World Record time set by the American team in the heats, the Canada team finished within what was the World record prior to the 2008 Olympics, and all of the teams finished within what was the Olympic record prior to the 2008 Olympics. The world record time was reduced by over 2% during the course of the heats and the final.
The faster times can also be seen in contrast to the 2004 Olympics in Athens, in which the South African squad took home the gold medal in world-record fashion. South Africa returned all four members of that 2004 relay team to these Olympics, and they even bettered their previous world-record time by 0.51 s, yet they finished a distant 7th place in Beijing. In fact, all 8 teams swimming in the 2008 finals swam faster than South Africa's gold medal swim of 2004.
It is also possible for the swimmers in the first leg to break records for the 100 m freestyle. In the heats, Amaury Leveaux of France broke the Olympic record, while the world record fell to Australian Eamon Sullivan in the final. Split times for swimmers not swimming the first leg are ineligible because the incoming swimmer can lean over in front of the blocks and be diving as the preceding swimmer is coming in, whereas the leadoff swimmer is timed from a stationary start. Thus, the world record was Sullivan's, even though five swimmers in the finals alone had faster times, including Jason Lezak, whose 46.06 seconds is the fastest individual leg in a 100 m freestyle or medley relay in history. Two days later, Alain Bernard reclaimed the record for France, recording a 47.20 time in the first semifinal of the 100m freestyle, only to have Sullivan break the record again, winning the second semifinal in 47.05 seconds.
The final included a dramatic finish with American Jason Lezak swimming the final 50 meters 0.9 seconds faster than Frenchman Alain Bernard to win the race. He also swam the fastest relay split in history. Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines had the call on NBC:
| “ | The United States trying to hang on to second; they should get the silver medal; Australia is in Bronze territory right now, but Lezak is closing a little bit on Bernard. Can the veteran chase him down and pull off a shocker here? Well, there's no doubt that he's tightening up! Bernard is losing some ground, here comes Lezak... UNBELIEVABLE AT THE END, HE'S DONE IT! THE U.S. HAS DONE IT! HE DID IT! HE DID IT! A world record! Phelps's hopes [are] alive! | ” |
| “ | That might be the most incredible relay split I've ever seen in my entire life. 46 flat, not only was that the fastest in history, it BLEW AWAY the fastest in history! | ” |
| Date | Round | Name | NOC | Record | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 11, 2008 | Final | Eamon Sullivan | Australia |
47.24 | World Record (100 m freestyle) |
| August 11, 2008 | Final | Michael Phelps | United States |
47.51 | National Record (100 m freestyle) |
| August 11, 2008 | Final | Brent Hayden | Canada |
47.56 | National Record (100 m freestyle) |
| August 10, 2008 | Heat 2 | Amaury Leveaux | France |
47.76 | Olympic Record (100 m freestyle) |
| August 10, 2008 | Heat 2 | Simon Burnett | Great Britain |
48.20 | National Record (100 m freestyle) |
[edit] References
- ^ Shipley, Amy (2006-08-20). "Peirsol sets backstroke record, Phelps fades". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/20/AR2006082000003.html. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
