# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay took place on 17 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.
Team USA had a satisfactory triumph over the Australians with a gold medal for the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Klete Keller, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Peter Vanderkaay of Team USA, upset the Australians, led by Ian Thorpe and unbeaten in six years, to a first-place finish by 0.13 of a second, in an American record time of 7:07.33. As the defending Olympic champions from Sydney, the Australian team of Thorpe, Michael Klim, Nicholas Sprenger, and Grant Hackett earned a silver medal in 7:07.46. The Italians got the bronze in 7:11.83, after a powerful second leg from former Olympic silver medalist Massimiliano Rosolino.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Australia (AUS) Grant Hackett (1:46.11) Michael Klim (1:46.49) Bill Kirby (1:47.92) Ian Thorpe (1:44.14) | 7:04.66 | Fukuoka, Japan | 27 July 2001 |
| Olympic record | Australia (AUS) Ian Thorpe (1:46.03) Michael Klim (1:46.40) Todd Pearson (1:47.36) Bill Kirby (1:47.26) | 7:07.05 | Sydney, Australia | 19 September 2000 |

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | United States | Scott Goldblatt (1:49.53) Ryan Lochte (1:47.39) Dan Ketchum (1:48.10) Peter Vanderkaay (1:47.78) | 7:12.80 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Australia | Todd Pearson (1:49.09) Antony Matkovich (1:49.34) Nicholas Sprenger (1:47.73) Craig Stevens (1:48.69) | 7:14.85 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Germany | Johannes Österling (1:50.37) Stefan Herbst (1:48.92) Heiko Hell (1:48.66) Christian Keller (1:48.80) | 7:16.75 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 6 | Great Britain | Simon Burnett (1:50.43) Ross Davenport (1:49.24) Gavin Meadows (1:48.46) David Carry (1:49.28) | 7:17.41 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | Canada | Mark Johnston (1:50.87) Andrew Hurd (1:48.86) Brian Johns (1:48.73) Rick Say (1:49.59) | 7:18.05 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 5 | Italy | Matteo Pelliciari (1:50.63) Simone Cercato (1:49.08) Federico Cappellazzo (1:50.08) Massimiliano Rosolino (1:48.47) | 7:18.26 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | 2 | Greece | Andreas Zisimos (1:50.99) Dimitrios Manganas (1:50.21) Apostolos Antonopoulos (1:48.58) Nikolaos Xylouris (1:49.93) | 7:19.71 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 6 | France | Amaury Leveaux (1:49.65) Fabien Horth (1:49.64) Nicolas Kintz (1:50.36) Nicolas Rostoucher (1:51.66) | 7:21.31 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 7 | Brazil | Rodrigo Castro (1:50.67) Bruno Bonfim (1:51.45) Carlos Jayme (1:51.46) Rafael Mosca (1:49.12) | 7:22.70 | |
| 10 | 1 | 2 | China | Liu Yu (1:51.36) Chen Zuo (1:49.79) Zheng Kunliang (1:51.34) Huang Shaohua (1:50.38) | 7:22.87 | |
| 11 | 2 | 3 | Russia | Maksim Kuznetsov (1:50.81) Alexei Zatsepine (1:51.75) Stepan Ganzey (1:50.18) Yevgeniy Natsvin (1:51.23) | 7:23.97 | |
| 12 | 1 | 7 | Ukraine | Sergey Fesenko (1:50.86) Maksym Kokosha (1:52.03) Dmytro Vereitinov (1:50.34) Sergiy Advena (1:50.90) | 7:24.13 | |
| 13 | 2 | 1 | Czech Republic | Michal Rubáček (1:51.37) Květoslav Svoboda (1:49.25) Josef Horký (1:53.29) Martin Škacha (1:52.35) | 7:26.26 | |
| 14 | 1 | 8 | Portugal | Luís Monteiro (1:50.43) Adriano Niz (1:52.35) João Araújo (1:54.50) Miguel Pires (1:50.71) | 7:27.99 | NR |
| 15 | 1 | 1 | Mexico | Joshua Ilika Brenner (1:51.01) NR Alejandro Siqueiros (1:52.51) Javier Díaz (1:53.34) Leonardo Salinas Saldana (1:52.68) | 7:29.54 | NR |
| 16 | 2 | 8 | Hungary | Tamás Kerékjártó (1:52.65) Balázs Gercsák (1:54.03) Balázs Makány (1:52.75) Tamás Szűcs (1:52.35) | 7:31.78 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes |
| | 4 | United States | Michael Phelps (1:46.49) Ryan Lochte (1:47.52) Peter Vanderkaay (1:47.79) Klete Keller (1:45.53) | 7:07.33 | | AM |
| | 5 | Australia | Grant Hackett (1:47.50) Michael Klim (1:47.62) Nicholas Sprenger (1:48.16) Ian Thorpe (1:44.18) | 7:07.46 | 0.13 | |
| | 7 | Italy | Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.16) Massimiliano Rosolino (1:46.24) Simone Cercato (1:49.85) Filippo Magnini (1:47.58) | 7:11.83 | 4.50 | |
| 4 | 6 | Great Britain | Simon Burnett (1:47.90) Gavin Meadows (1:48.46) David O'Brien (1:49.05) Ross Davenport (1:47.19) | 7:12.60 | 5.27 | |
| 5 | 2 | Canada | Brent Hayden (1:49.08) Brian Johns (1:49.15) Andrew Hurd (1:48.09) Rick Say (1:47.01) | 7:13.33 | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 3 | Germany | Jens Schreiber (1:49.08) Heiko Hell (1:49.15) Lars Conrad (1:48.23) Christian Keller (1:50.05) | 7:16.51 | 9.18 | |
| 7 | 8 | France | Amaury Leveaux (1:48.57) Fabien Horth (1:48.67) Nicolas Kintz (1:50.01) Nicolas Rostoucher (1:50.18) | 7:17.43 | 10.10 | |
| 8 | 1 | Greece | Apostolos Antonopoulos (1:50.34) Dimitrios Manganas (1:51.33) Andreas Zisimos (1:50.26) Nikolaos Xylouris (1:51.09) | 7:23.02 | 15.67 | |