# Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

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.
Italy's Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31), Alessia Filippi (1:56.68), Flavia Zoccari (1:59.80), and Federica Pellegrini (1:54.97) missed out the podium by over three seconds with a fourth-place time and a European record of 7:49.76. Meanwhile, the French quartet of Coralie Balmy (1:56.57), Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:57.95), Aurore Mongel (1:58.62), and Camille Muffat (1:57.52) occupied the fifth spot in 7:50.66. Earlier in the prelims, Muffat (1:57.32), Balmy (1:55.86), Céline Couderc (1:58.92), and Alena Popchanka (1:58.27), previously competed for Belarus in three Games, established a new Olympic record of 7:50.37 to close the session with a final top seed. Hungary (7:55.53), Japan (7:57.56), and Sweden (7:59.83) rounded out the field. For the first time in Olympic history, all eight teams finished the race under eight minutes due to the presence of technology suits.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | United States (USA) Natalie Coughlin (1:56.43) Dana Vollmer (1:57.49) Lacey Nymeyer (1:59.19) Katie Hoff (1:56.98) | 7:50.09 | Melbourne, Australia | 29 March 2007 | |
| Olympic record | United States (USA) Natalie Coughlin (1:57.74) Carly Piper (1:59.39) Dana Vollmer (1:58.12) Kaitlin Sandeno (1:58.17) | 7:53.42 | Athens, Greece | 18 August 2004 | - |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| August 13 | Heat 1 | Alena Popchanka (1:58.27) Céline Couderc (1:58.92) Camille Muffat (1:57.32) Coralie Balmy (1:55.86) | France | 7:50.37 | OR |
| August 14 | Final | Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) =OC Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) | Australia | 7:44.31 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nationality | Names | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | France | Alena Popchanka (1:58.27) Céline Couderc (1:58.92) Camille Muffat (1:57.32) Coralie Balmy (1:55.86) | 7:50.37 | Q, OR, ER |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | United States | Caroline Burckle (1:57.86) Christine Marshall (1:58.58) Kim Vandenberg (1:58.31) Julia Smit (1:57.68) | 7:52.43 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Italy | Renata Spagnolo (1:58.91) Flavia Zoccari (1:58.88) Alice Carpanese (1:59.50) Federica Pellegrini (1:56.09) | 7:53.38 | Q, NR |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | China | Yang Yu (1:57.49) Tan Miao (1:58.84) Tang Jingzhi (2:00.20) Zhu Qianwei (1:57.24) | 7:53.77 | Q, AS |
| 5 | 1 | 6 | Sweden | Gabriella Fagundez (1:58.43) Ida Marko-Varga (1:58.40) Petra Granlund (1:59.67) Josefin Lillhage (1:57.33) | 7:53.83 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 2 | 6 | Australia | Felicity Galvez (1:58.00) Angie Bainbridge (1:58.17) Melanie Schlanger (2:00.99) Lara Davenport (1:57.94) | 7:55.10 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 7 | Hungary | Ágnes Mutina (1:59.42) Evelyn Verrasztó (1:56.92) Eszter Dara (2:00.45) Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:58.47) | 7:55.26 | Q, NR |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | Japan | Haruka Ueda (1:58.09) Misaki Yamaguchi (1:57.93) Emi Takanabe (2:01.28) Maki Mita (1:58.33) | 7:55.63 | Q, NR |
| 9 | 2 | 5 | Great Britain | Joanne Jackson (1:57.70) Melanie Marshall (1:58.44) Hannah Miley (1:59.95) Francesca Halsall (2:00.07) | 7:56.16 | |
| 10 | 1 | 1 | Canada | Stephanie Horner (1:58.00) Geneviève Saumur (1:59.23) Erica Morningstar (2:00.91) Julia Wilkinson (1:58.12) | 7:56.26 | NR |
| 11 | 1 | 3 | Netherlands | Femke Heemskerk (1:58.29) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (1:58.29) Saskia de Jonge (2:00.71) Manon van Rooijen (1:59.31) | 7:56.60 | |
| 12 | 1 | 5 | Germany | Meike Freitag (1:58.09) Petra Dallmann (1:59.55) Daniela Samulski (2:01.67) Annika Lurz (1:58.80) | 7:58.11 | |
| 13 | 2 | 1 | Denmark | Julie Hjorth-Hansen (1:59.16) Micha Kathrine Østergaard Jensen (2:01.67) Louise Mai Jansen (2:00.31) Lotte Friis (1:59.67) | 8:00.81 | NR |
| 14 | 1 | 7 | Spain | Melania Costa (2:00.92) María Fuster (2:00.00) Noemi Féliz García (1:59.77) Arantxa Ramos (2:00.21) | 8:00.90 | NR |
| 15 | 1 | 8 | Poland | Paulina Barzycka (2:00.99) Katarzyna Wilk (2:02.78) Karolina Szczepaniak (2:01.94) Katarzyna Baranowska (2:01.69) | 8:07.40 | |
| | 2 | 8 | New Zealand | Helen Norfolk (2:00.24) Lauren Boyle (1:58.01) Hayley Palmer (1:59.92) Natasha Hind | DSQ | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nationality | Name | Time | Time behind | Notes |
| | 7 | Australia | Stephanie Rice (1:56.60) =OC Bronte Barratt (1:56.58) Kylie Palmer (1:55.22) Linda Mackenzie (1:55.91) | 7:44.31 | | WR |
| | 6 | China | Yang Yu (1:56.79) Zhu Qianwei (1:56.64) Tan Miao (1:58.11) Pang Jiaying (1:54.39) | 7:45.93 | 1.62 | AS |
| | 5 | United States | Allison Schmitt (1:57.71) Natalie Coughlin (1:57.19) Caroline Burckle (1:56.70) Katie Hoff (1:54.73) | 7:46.33 | 2.02 | AM |
| 4 | 3 | Italy | Renata Spagnolo (1:58.31) Alessia Filippi (1:56.68) Flavia Zoccari (1:59.80) Federica Pellegrini (1:54.97) | 7:49.76 | 5.45 | ER |
| 5 | 4 | France | Coralie Balmy (1:56.57) Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne (1:57.95) Aurore Mongel (1:58.62) Camille Muffat (1:57.52) | 7:50.66 | 6.35 | |
| 6 | 1 | Hungary | Ágnes Mutina (1:58.17) Evelyn Verrasztó (1:57.80) Eszter Dara (2:00.39) Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:59.17) | 7:55.53 | 11.22 | |
| 7 | 8 | Japan | Haruka Ueda (1:58.44) Misaki Yamaguchi (1:58.51) Maki Mita (1:58.78) Emi Takanabe (2:01.83) | 7:57.56 | 13.25 | |
| 8 | 2 | Sweden | Josefin Lillhage (2:00.48) Gabriella Fagundez (2:00.09) Ida Marko-Varga (1:58.58) Petra Granlund (2:00.68) | 7:59.83 | 15.52 | |