The women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15 and 17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China.[1]
| Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Beijing National Aquatics Center | |||||||||
| Date | August 15, 2008 (heats) August 17, 2008 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 74 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 3:52.69 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Dominating the race from the start, the Aussie women's relay team solidified their triumph to destroy the world record and to defend the Olympic title over their American rivals for the second straight time. The foursome of Emily Seebohm (59.33), Leisel Jones (1:04.58), Jessicah Schipper (56.25), and Lisbeth Trickett (52.53) put together a perfect ending with a blazing fast time of 3:52.69 to shave three seconds off their standard from the 2007 FINA World Championships in Melbourne.[2][3]
Team USA's Natalie Coughlin (58.94), Rebecca Soni (1:05.95), Christine Magnuson (56.14), and legend Dara Torres (52.27) trailed behind their greatest rivals in the pool by six-tenths of a second (0.60), but finished under a world-record time to take home a magnificent silver in a new American standard of 3:53.30.[4][5] Competing in her fifth Olympics since 1984, at age 41, Torres also picked up her twelfth career medal to match Jenny Thompson's record as the most successful American woman in Olympic history.[6] Delighted by a raucous home crowd inside the Water Cube, the Chinese quartet of Zhao Jing (59.56), Sun Ye (1:06.75), Zhou Yafei (57.40), and Pang Jiaying (52.40) ended on a spectacular fashion with a bronze medal in an Asian record of 3:56.11.[7][8][9]
Great Britain's Gemma Spofforth (59.05), Kate Haywood (1:07.51), Jemma Lowe (58.13), and Francesca Halsall (52.81) missed the podium by over a single second, but powered home with a fourth-place effort in a European record of 3:57.50, holding off the Russian foursome of Anastasia Zuyeva (59.16), Yuliya Yefimova (1:06.46), Natalya Sutyagina (58.09), and Anastasia Aksenova (54.13) by 0.34 seconds, a fifth-place time of 3:57.84.[10][11] Japan's Reiko Nakamura (59.74), Asami Kitagawa (1:07.04), Yuka Kato (58.17), and Haruka Ueda (54.59) cleared a four-minute barrier to claim a sixth spot in 3:59.54, leaving Canada's Julia Wilkinson (1:01.35), Annamay Pierse (1:06.91), Audrey Lacroix (59.01), and Erica Morningstar (54.08) out of the fence in 4:01.35. As the entire field came to a dramatic finish in the pool, Sweden was disqualified from the race because of an early relay takeoff on the final exchange by freestyle anchor Josefin Lillhage.[9]
Records
editPrior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Australia (AUS)Emily Seebohm (1:00.79) Leisel Jones (1:04.94) Jessicah Schipper (57.18) Lisbeth Lenton (52.83) | 3:55.74 | Melbourne, Australia | 31 March 2007 | [12] |
| Olympic record |  Australia (AUS)Giaan Rooney (1:01.18) Leisel Jones (1:06.50) Petria Thomas (56.67) Jodie Henry (52.97) | 3:57.32 | Athens, Greece | 21 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 17 | Final | Emily Seebohm (59.33) Leisel Jones (1:04.58) Jessicah Schipper (56.25) Lisbeth Trickett (52.53) | Australia | 3:52.69 | WR |
Results
editHeats
edit
Final
edit
| Rank | Lane | Nationality | Name | Time | Time behind | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4 | Australia | Emily Seebohm (59.33) Leisel Jones (1:04.58) Jessicah Schipper (56.25) Lisbeth Trickett (52.53) | 3:52.69 | WR | |
 | 3 |  United States | Natalie Coughlin (58.94) Rebecca Soni (1:05.95) Christine Magnuson (56.14) Dara Torres (52.27) | 3:53.30 | 0.61 | AM |
 | 6 |  China | Zhao Jing (59.56) Sun Ye (1:06.75) Zhou Yafei (57.40) Pang Jiaying (52.40) | 3:56.11 | 3.42 | AS |
| 4 | 5 |  Great Britain | Gemma Spofforth (59.05) Kate Haywood (1:07.51) Jemma Lowe (58.13) Francesca Halsall (52.81) | 3:57.50 | 4.81 | EU |
| 5 | 2 |  Russia | Anastasia Zuyeva (59.16) Yuliya Yefimova (1:06.46) Natalya Sutyagina (58.09) Anastasia Aksenova (54.13) | 3:57.84 | 5.15 | |
| 6 | 7 |  Japan | Reiko Nakamura (59.74) Asami Kitagawa (1:07.04) Yuka Kato (58.17) Haruka Ueda (54.59) | 3:59.54 | 6.85 | NR |
| 7 | 8 |  Canada | Julia Wilkinson (1:01.35) Annamay Pierse (1:06.91) Audrey Lacroix (59.01) Erica Morningstar (54.08) | 4:01.35 | 8.66 | |
| 1 |  Sweden | Sarah Sjöström (1:02.63) Joline Höstman (1:08.11) Anna-Karin Kammerling (58.51) Josefin Lillhage | DSQ |
References
edit- ^ "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- ^ "Phelps claims Olympic-record eighth gold medal with relay win". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Jeffery, Nicole (18 August 2008). "Medley girls enjoy perfect ending to deny US". The Australian. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ "Team USA ends the competition at Water Cube with 31 medals". USA Swimming. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ "Australia defeats US to win women's 400 medley". USA Today. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ Bondy, Filip (17 August 2008). "Dara Torres settles for silver medal in 50-meter freestyle". New York Daily News. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ "Phelps passes Spitz with eighth Olympic gold". Team USA. 17 August 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ Bryan, Rebecca (18 August 2008). "With 8 gold, Phelps passes Spitz record". China Post. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ a b Lohn, John (16 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Australia Wins Women's 400 Medley Relay in World Record". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- ^ Lonsbrough, Anita (17 August 2008). "Michael Phelps completes record-breaking haul of eight gold medals". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ Gardner, Alan (17 August 2008). "Olympics: British women's relay team pipped to bronze in 4x100m medley". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
- ^ "Rooney wins backstroke gold". ABC News Australia. 29 March 2005. Retrieved 24 March 2008.