| Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
| Dates | September 19, 2000 (heats & final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 75 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 7:07.05 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ← 19962004 → | ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| 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 |
The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
After defeating the Americans to capture the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay title four days earlier, the Australians added another relay gold medal to their hardware in the event by the delight of a raucous home crowd. Dominating the race from start to finish, the Aussie foursome of Ian Thorpe (1:46.03), Michael Klim (1:46.40), Todd Pearson (1:47.36), and Bill Kirby (1:47.26) posted a sterling time of 7:07.05 to demolish a new world record and cut off the former Soviet Union's 1992 Olympic standard by almost four seconds.
Team USA's Scott Goldblatt (1:49.66), Josh Davis (1:46.49), Jamie Rauch (1:48.74) sent Klete Keller to be an anchor for a second-place battle. Trailing behind the Dutch and the Italians with only 25 metres left, Keller fought off a tight challenge with a split of 1:47.75 to snatch the silver for the Americans in 7:12.64. Meanwhile, the Netherlands moved from fifth-place turns by Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.60), Johan Kenkhuis (1:51.18), and Marcel Wouda (1:48.56) to race on the final stretch for the bronze in 7:12.70, after producing a superb anchor of 1:44.88, the fastest split of all time, set by Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband.
The Italian team of Andrea Beccari (1:49.67), Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.41), Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.92), and Massimiliano Rosolino (1:45.91) missed the podium with a fourth-place time of 7:12.91, holding off the fast-pacing Brits' Edward Sinclair (1:49.61), Paul Palmer (1:47.15), Marc Spackman (1:48.85), and James Salter (1:47.37) by seven-hundredths of a second (7:12.98). Germany (7:20.19), Canada (7:21.92), and Russia (7:24.37) rounded out the championship finale.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Australia (AUS)Ian Thorpe (1:46.28) Bill Kirby (1:48.96) Grant Hackett (1:46.30) Michael Klim (1:47.25) |
7:08.79 | Sydney, Australia | 25 August 1999 | |
| Olympic record |  Unified Team (EUN)Dmitry Lepikov (1:49.55) Vladimir Pyshnenko (1:46.58) Veniamin Tayanovich (1:48.99) Yevgeny Sadovyi (1:46.83) |
7:11.95 | Barcelona, Spain | 27 July 1992 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 19 | Final | Ian Thorpe (1:46.03) Michael Klim (1:46.40) Todd Pearson (1:47.36) Bill Kirby (1:47.26) |
 Australia |
7:07.05 | WR |
Results
Heats
Final
References
- "Swimming schedule". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
- Longman, Jere (20 September 2000). "Sydney 2000: Swimming; Malchow Lies Low, Then Rockets To the Wall". New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- Morrissey, Rick (20 September 2000). "It's Wet And Wild". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- "Aussies rule relays". Sports Illustrated. CNN. 20 September 2000. Archived from the original on May 7, 2001. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- "Malchow sets Olympic record in 200 fly". ESPN. 19 September 2000. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^ Whitten, Phillip (19 September 2000). "Olympic Day 4 Finals". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
- Lonsbrough, Anita (19 September 2000). "Swimming: Britons denied as Dutchman dominates". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ "Sydney 2000: Swimming – Men's 4×200m Freestyle Relay Heats" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 343–344. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
