Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay
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Women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | ||||||||||
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Venue | London Aquatics Centre | |||||||||
Dates | August 3, 2012 (heats) August 4, 2012 (final) | |||||||||
Competitors | 84 from 16 nations | |||||||||
Winning time | 3:52.05 WR | |||||||||
Medalists | ||||||||||
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The women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 3–4 August at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.[1]
The U.S. women's team solidified their triumph to demolish a new world record and to recapture their Olympic title after twelve years. Leading from the start, the fearsome foursome of Missy Franklin (58.50), Rebecca Soni (1:04.82), Dana Vollmer (55.48), and Allison Schmitt (53.25) put together a perfect ending with a stunning gold-medal time in 3:52.05 to shave off China's global standard by 14-hundredths of a second from the 2009 World Championships at the peak of the high-tech bodysuit era.[2][3][4]
Australia's Emily Seebohm (59.01), Leisel Jones (1:06.06), Alicia Coutts (56.41), and Melanie Schlanger (52.54) trailed behind their formidable rivals by a couple of seconds, but managed to take home a magnificent silver in 3:54.02.[5] Pulling off a second-place finish, Jones also matched Ian Thorpe for the most medals by an Australian swimmer in her fourth straight Olympics with a remarkable overall tally of nine (three golds, five silver, and one bronze).[6][7]
Japan's Aya Terakawa (58.99), Satomi Suzuki (1:05.96), Yuka Kato (57.36), and Haruka Ueda (53.42) ended on a spectacular fashion with a bronze medal in 3:55.73, holding off the robust Russian quartet of Anastasia Zuyeva (59.13), Yuliya Yefimova (1:04.98), Irina Bespalova (58.59), and Veronika Popova (53.33) by exactly three-tenths of a second (0.30), a fourth-place time in 3:56.03.[8][9]
Outside the podium, China's Zhao Jing (59.86), Ji Liping (1:06.94), Lu Ying (56.80), and Tang Yi (52.81) could not produce a similar stellar performance in the medley relay with a fifth-place finish in 3:56.41, while the Dutch foursome of Sharon van Rouwendaal (1:00.72), Moniek Nijhuis (1:06.74), Inge Dekker (56.91), and star Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.91), who captured another sprint freestyle title an hour earlier, claimed a distant sixth spot in 3:57.28.[9] Denmark (3:57.76) and Great Britain (3:59.46) rounded out the championship finale.[9][10]