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

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.
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.
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. 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.
Britta Steffen shaved off Jodie Henry's 2004 Olympic record by 0.15 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. France (3:37.68), Great Britain (3:38.18), and Canada (3:38.32) picked up the remaining places to complete a close finish.

## 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 | |
| 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, NR |
| 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, NR |
| 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 | NR |
| 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 |
| | 6 | Netherlands | Inge Dekker (54.37) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.39) Femke Heemskerk (53.42) Marleen Veldhuis (52.58) | 3:33.76 | | OR |
| | 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 |
| | 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 | NR |
| 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 | NR |