Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
The women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 1 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
The U.S. women's team smashed a new Olympic record to recapture their freestyle relay title with the help of a sterling anchor leg from Allison Schmitt. Trailing throughout most of the race with a back-to-back lead from Australia and France before the final exchange, Schmitt demolished the field with a remarkable split of 1:54.09 to deliver the American foursome of Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, and Shannon Vreeland a gold medal and an Olympic record in 7:42.92.
Australia's Bronte Barratt, Melanie Schlanger, and Kylie Palmer handed Alicia Coutts the anchor duties at the final exchange with a 0.54-second lead, but Coutts' split of 1:56.12 was just over a full-body length behind Schmitt's stunning anchor, leaving them with a silver medal in 7:44.41. Meanwhile, the fantastic French quartet of Camille Muffat, Charlotte Bonnet, Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne, and Coralie Balmy took home the bronze in 7:47.49.
Canada's Barbara Jardin, Samantha Cheverton, Amanda Reason, and Brittany MacLean missed the podium with a fourth-place time in 7:50.65, while Great Britain's home favorite foursome of Caitlin McClatchey, Rebecca Turner, Hannah Miley, and Joanne Jackson struggled to mount a challenge in an Olympic-medal race as they finished fifth in 7:52.37. China, led by medley double champion Ye Shiwen, Italy, and Japan rounded out the championship finale.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.The following records were established during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nation | Time | Record |
| August 1 | Final | Missy Franklin Dana Vollmer Shannon Vreeland Allison Schmitt | 7:42.92 |
Results
Heats
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Brittany Elmslie Angie Bainbridge Jade Neilsen Blair Evans | 7:49.44 | Q | |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | Lauren Perdue Shannon Vreeland Alyssa Anderson Dana Vollmer | 7:50.75 | Q | |
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Barbara Jardin Samantha Cheverton Amanda Reason Brittany MacLean | 7:50.84 | Q | |
| 4 | 2 | 6 | Alice Mizzau Alice Nesti Diletta Carli Federica Pellegrini | 7:52.75 | Q | |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne Margaux Farrell Mylene Lazare Camille Muffat | 7:52.88 | Q | |
| 6 | 2 | 5 | Zhu Qianwei Liu Jing Chen Qian Pang Jiaying | 7:53.66 | Q | |
| 7 | 1 | 6 | Caitlin McClatchey Rebecca Turner Ellie Faulkner Joanne Jackson | 7:54.31 | Q | |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | Haruka Ueda Hanae Ito Yayoi Matsumoto Aya Takano | 7:54.56 | Q | |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Ágnes Mutina Zsuzsanna Jakabos Katinka Hosszú Evelyn Verrasztó | 7:54.58 | ||
| 10 | 1 | 1 | Melania Costa Schmid Patricia Castro Lydia Morant Mireia Belmonte García | 7:54.59 | NR | |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | Natasha Hind Samantha Lucie-Smith Amaka Gessler Melissa Ingram | 7:55.92 | NR | |
| 12 | 1 | 7 | Mariya Baklakova Elena Sokolova Veronika Popova Daria Belyakina | 7:56.50 | ||
| 13 | 2 | 7 | Silke Lippok Theresa Michalak Annika Bruhn Daniela Schreiber | 7:58.93 | ||
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Sara Isaković Anja Klinar Urša Bežan Mojca Sagmeister | 8:04.69 | ||
| 15 | 1 | 8 | Daryna Zevina Ganna Dzerkal Darya Stepanyuk Iryna Glavnyk | 8:12.67 | ||
| 16 | 2 | 8 | Katarzyna Wilk Karolina Szczepaniak Diana Sokołowska Alexandra Putra | 8:13.76 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time Behind | Notes |
| 5 | Missy Franklin Dana Vollmer Shannon Vreeland Allison Schmitt | 7:42.92 | ||||
| 4 | Bronte Barratt Melanie Schlanger Kylie Palmer Alicia Coutts | 7:44.41 | 1.49 | |||
| 2 | Camille Muffat Charlotte Bonnet Ophélie-Cyrielle Étienne Coralie Balmy | 7:47.49 | 4.57 | NR | ||
| 4 | 3 | Barbara Jardin Samantha Cheverton Amanda Reason Brittany MacLean | 7:50.65 | 7.73 | ||
| 5 | 1 | Caitlin McClatchey Rebecca Turner Hannah Miley Joanne Jackson | 7:52.37 | 9.45 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Wang Shijia Ye Shiwen Liu Jing Tang Yi | 7:53.11 | 10.19 | ||
| 7 | 6 | Alice Mizzau Alice Nesti Diletta Carli Federica Pellegrini | 7:56.30 | 13.38 | ||
| 8 | 8 | Haruka Ueda Hanae Ito Yayoi Matsumoto Aya Takano | 7:56.73 | 13.81 |