| | Event type

4 × 100 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	23 July 1996
Status	Olympic
Location	Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Participants	83 from 19 countries

Every time this event had been held at the Olympic Games the US team had won gold and all but once they had done so in world record time. Added to the fact that America were also the current world champions this suggested that a US victory was one of the biggest certainties of the entire Games.

At the first changeover in the final the USA were out of the medals in fourth and, although over the next two legs they improved, they were still trailing Russia and Germany and a shock defeat appeared likely. However the two European nations had top loaded their best swimmers whilst the American trump card Gary Hall, Jr. was to swim the anchor leg for the home team. Hall took two seconds off his main rivals and vaulted his team to a clear victory. Their only disappointment was that they failed, by a third of a second, to break the world record.

For Hall this was the first gold medal of the five he won during his career and meant that he followed his father, also Gary Hall, as an Olympic champion.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	United States	USA	3:18.40 (1 h3)	3:15.41 (1)	Gold
	Jon Olsen		–	–
	Josh Davis		–	–
	Brad Schumacher		–	–
	Gary Hall, Jr.		–	–
	David Fox		–	–
	Scott Tucker		–	–
2	Russian Federation	RUS	3:20.39 (2 h3)	3:17.06 (2)	Silver
	Roman Yegorov		–	–
	Aleksandr Popov		–	–
	Vladimir Predkin		–	–
	Vladimir Pyshnenko		–	–
	Denis Pimankov		–	–
	Konstantin Ushkov		–	–
3	Germany	GER	3:19.27 (1 h1)	3:17.20 (3)	Bronze
	Christian Tröger		–	–
	Bengt Zikarsky		–	–
	Björn Zikarsky		–	–
	Mark Pinger		–	–
	Alexander Lüderitz		–	–
4	Brazil	BRA	3:20.21 (2 h2)	3:18.30 (4)
	Xuxa Scherer		–	–
	Alexandre Massura		–	–
	André Cordeiro		–	–
	Gustavo Borges		–	–
5	Netherlands	NED	3:20.16 (1 h2)	3:19.02 (5)
	Mark Veens		–	–
	Pie Geelen		–	–
	Martin van der Spoel		–	–
	Pieter van den Hoogenband		–	–
6	Australia	AUS	3:20.88 (3 h2)	3:20.13 (6)
	Michael Klim		–	–
	Matt Dunn		–	–
	Scott Logan		–	–
	Chris Fydler		–	–
	Ian Vander-Wal		–	–
7	Sweden	SWE	3:20.74 (2 h1)	3:20.16 (7)
	Lars Frölander		–	–
	Fredrik Letzler		–	–
	Anders Holmertz		–	–
	Christer Wallin		–	–
	Johan Wallberg		–	–
8	Great Britain	GBR	3:21.34 (3 h1)	3:21.52 (8)
	Nick Shackell		–	–
	Alan Rapley		–	–
	Mark Stevens		–	–
	Mike Fibbens		–	–
9	New Zealand	NZL	3:21.65 (3 h3)	–
	Trent Bray		–	–
	Danyon Loader		–	–
	John Steel		–	–
	Nick Tongue		–	–
10	Romania	ROU	3:21.66 (4 h2)	–
	Horațiu Bădiță		–	–
	Alexandru Ioanovici		–	–
	Nicolae Ivan		–	–
	Răzvan Petcu		–	–
11	France	FRA	3:21.79 (4 h3)	–
	Peirrick Chavatte		–	–
	Ludovic Dépickère		–	–
	Nicolas Gruson		–	–
	Frédéric Lefèvre		–	–
12	Finland	FIN	3:22.99 (5 h2)	–
	Janne Blomqvist		–	–
	Antti Kasvio		–	–
	Jani Sievinen		–	–
	Kalle Varonen		–	–
13	Venezuela	VEN	3:23.04 (5 h3)	–
	Alejandro Carrizo		–	–
	Diego Henao		–	–
	Francisco Sánchez		–	–
	Carlos Santander		–	–
14	Croatia	CRO	3:26.02 (4 h1)	–
	Marijan Kanjer		–	–
	Alen Lončar		–	–
	Miloš Milošević		–	–
	Miroslav Vučetić		–	–
15	Ecuador	ECU	3:27.77 (6 h2)	–
	Felipe Delgado		–	–
	Roberto Delgado		–	–
	Julio Santos		–	–
	Javier Santos		–	–
16	Puerto Rico	PUR	3:28.27 (5 h1)	–
	Ricardo Busquets		–	–
	Eduardo González		–	–
	José González		–	–
	Arsenio López		–	–
17	Uzbekistan	UZB	3:28.33 (6 h3)	–
	Vyacheslav Kabanov		–	–
	Ravil Nachayev		–	–
	Oleg Pukhnaty		–	–
	Oleg Tsvetkovsky		–	–
18	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	3:30.62 (7 h3)	–
	Sergey Ashikhmin		–	–
	Andrey Kvasov		–	–
	Dmitry Lapin		–	–
	Vitaly Vasilyev		–	–
DQ	Kazakhstan	KAZ	– (DQ h1)	–
	Sergey Borisenko		–	–
	Aleksey Khovrin		–	–
	Sergey Ushkalov		–	–
	Aleksey Yegorov		–	–
DNS	Singapore	SGP	– (DNS h2)	–		1

Round One

Date	23 July 1996
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	–	United States	USA	3:18.40	Q
2	–	Germany	GER	3:19.27	Q
3	–	Netherlands	NED	3:20.16	Q
4	–	Brazil	BRA	3:20.21	Q
5	–	Russian Federation	RUS	3:20.39	Q
6	–	Sweden	SWE	3:20.74	Q
7	–	Australia	AUS	3:20.88	Q
8	–	Great Britain	GBR	3:21.34	Q
9	–	New Zealand	NZL	3:21.65
10	–	Romania	ROU	3:21.66
11	–	France	FRA	3:21.79
12	–	Finland	FIN	3:22.99
13	–	Venezuela	VEN	3:23.04
14	–	Croatia	CRO	3:26.02
15	–	Ecuador	ECU	3:27.77
16	–	Puerto Rico	PUR	3:28.27
17	–	Uzbekistan	UZB	3:28.33
18	–	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	3:30.62
DQ	–	Kazakhstan	KAZ	–		2
DNS	–	Singapore	SGP	–		3

Heat #1

Time	12:00

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Germany	GER	3:19.27	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Mark Pinger		–	0.84	23.83	50.50 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alexander Lüderitz		–	0.21	23.93	50.06 (2)	1:40.56 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Bengt Zikarsky		–	0.46	23.27	48.97 (1)	2:29.53 (1)
Anchor	–	Björn Zikarsky		–	0.45	23.43	49.74 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Sweden	SWE	3:20.74	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Fredrik Letzler		–	0.82	24.26	50.81 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Lars Frölander		–	0.06	23.52	49.34 (1)	1:40.15 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Christer Wallin		–	0.29	23.93	50.13 (3)	2:30.28 (2)
Anchor	–	Johan Wallberg		–	0.01	24.02	50.46 (2)	– (–)
3	–	Great Britain	GBR	3:21.34	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Nick Shackell		–	0.74	24.28	50.44 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alan Rapley		–	0.26	24.06	50.18 (3)	1:40.62 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Mark Stevens		–	0.20	23.64	49.97 (2)	2:30.59 (3)
Anchor	–	Mike Fibbens		–	0.35	23.56	50.75 (4)	– (–)
4	–	Croatia	CRO	3:26.02	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Miroslav Vučetić		–	0.86	24.57	51.10 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Miloš Milošević		–	0.14	23.88	50.81 (4)	1:41.91 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Alen Lončar		–	0.19	24.21	52.38 (5)	2:34.29 (4)
Anchor	–	Marijan Kanjer		–	0.30	24.10	51.73 (6)	– (–)
5	–	Puerto Rico	PUR	3:28.27	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Eduardo González		–	0.74	24.79	52.37 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	José González		–	0.21	24.29	51.69 (5)	1:44.06 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Arsenio López		–	0.14	24.97	52.55 (6)	2:36.61 (5)
Anchor	–	Ricardo Busquets		–	0.27	24.57	51.66 (5)	– (–)
DQ	–	Kazakhstan	KAZ	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)		4
Lead-off	–	Aleksey Yegorov		–	[0.90]	[24.58]	[50.86] ([4])	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Sergey Ushkalov		–	[0.33]	[24.50]	[52.18] ([6])	[1:43.04] ([−])
3rd Leg	–	Aleksey Khovrin		–	[-0.22]	[24.06]	[51.49] ([4])	[2:34.53] ([−])
Anchor	–	Sergey Borisenko		–	[0.06]	[23.79]	[50.61] ([3])	– (–)

Heat #2

Time	12:15

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Netherlands	NED	3:20.16	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Pie Geelen		–	0.80	24.32	50.86 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Mark Veens		–	0.14	23.88	49.94 (1)	1:40.80 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Martin van der Spoel		–	0.20	24.19	50.72 (4)	2:31.52 (3)
Anchor	–	Pieter van den Hoogenband		–	0.19	22.85	48.64 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Brazil	BRA	3:20.21	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Xuxa Scherer		–	0.84	24.10	50.81 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alexandre Massura		–	0.14	23.85	50.20 (2)	1:41.01 (4)
3rd Leg	–	André Cordeiro		–	0.08	23.57	50.27 (1)	2:31.28 (2)
Anchor	–	Gustavo Borges		–	0.21	23.66	48.93 (2)	– (–)
3	–	Australia	AUS	3:20.88	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Michael Klim		–	0.79	24.26	50.09 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ian Vander-Wal		–	0.31	24.62	50.70 (5)	1:40.79 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Scott Logan		–	0.23	23.85	50.38 (3)	2:31.17 (1)
Anchor	–	Chris Fydler		–	0.25	23.86	49.71 (4)	– (–)
4	–	Romania	ROU	3:21.66	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Nicolae Ivan		–	0.83	24.50	51.06 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Răzvan Petcu		–	0.18	24.23	50.88 (6)	1:41.94 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Horațiu Bădiță		–	0.25	23.85	50.31 (2)	2:32.25 (5)
Anchor	–	Alexandru Ioanovici		–	0.08	23.21	49.41 (3)	– (–)
5	–	Finland	FIN	3:22.99	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Jani Sievinen		–	0.77	24.28	50.04 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Antti Kasvio		–	0.15	23.68	50.42 (3)	1:40.46 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Janne Blomqvist		–	0.26	24.56	51.52 (5)	2:31.98 (4)
Anchor	–	Kalle Varonen		–	0.14	24.08	51.01 (5)	– (–)
6	–	Ecuador	ECU	3:27.77	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Julio Santos		–	0.77	24.62	51.48 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Felipe Delgado		–	0.13	24.04	50.59 (4)	1:42.07 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Roberto Delgado		–	0.28	25.22	53.22 (6)	2:35.29 (6)
Anchor	–	Javier Santos		–	0.31	24.55	52.48 (6)	– (–)
DNS	–	Singapore	SGP	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)		5

Heat #3

Time	12:30

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	United States	USA	3:18.40	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	David Fox		–	0.77	23.92	50.46 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Scott Tucker		–	0.31	23.76	49.68 (2)	1:40.14 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Brad Schumacher		–	0.30	23.47	49.19 (1)	2:29.33 (1)
Anchor	–	Josh Davis		–	0.24	23.09	49.07 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Russian Federation	RUS	3:20.39	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Roman Yegorov		–	0.81	24.08	50.82 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Denis Pimankov		–	0.34	23.62	50.09 (3)	1:40.91 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Konstantin Ushkov		–	0.46	23.48	50.32 (3)	2:31.23 (3)
Anchor	–	Vladimir Pyshnenko		–	0.42	23.27	49.16 (3)	– (–)
3	–	New Zealand	NZL	3:21.65	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	John Steel		–	0.77	24.50	50.60 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Nick Tongue		–	0.56	24.57	50.89 (4)	1:41.49 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Danyon Loader		–	0.26	24.22	51.02 (4)	2:32.51 (4)
Anchor	–	Trent Bray		–	0.06	23.11	49.14 (2)	– (–)
4	–	France	FRA	3:21.79	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ludovic Dépickère		–	0.76	24.50	51.22 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Nicolas Gruson		–	0.31	23.32	49.61 (1)	1:40.83 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Peirrick Chavatte		–	0.21	23.65	50.15 (2)	2:30.98 (2)
Anchor	–	Frédéric Lefèvre		–	0.39	24.00	50.81 (5)	– (–)
5	–	Venezuela	VEN	3:23.04	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Diego Henao		–	0.71	24.61	51.64 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Carlos Santander		–	0.17	24.14	51.01 (5)	1:42.65 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Alejandro Carrizo		–	0.15	24.11	51.20 (5)	2:33.85 (5)
Anchor	–	Francisco Sánchez		–	0.21	23.11	49.19 (4)	– (–)
6	–	Uzbekistan	UZB	3:28.33	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Ravil Nachayev		–	0.79	24.42	52.46 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Oleg Tsvetkovsky		–	0.12	25.45	52.13 (7)	1:44.59 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Oleg Pukhnaty		–	0.08	24.47	51.82 (6)	2:36.41 (6)
Anchor	–	Vyacheslav Kabanov		–	0.37	24.48	51.92 (6)	– (–)
7	–	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	3:30.62	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Sergey Ashikhmin		–	0.84	24.47	50.85 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrey Kvasov		–	0.54	25.01	52.08 (6)	1:42.93 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Dmitry Lapin		–	0.40	25.56	53.67 (7)	2:36.60 (7)
Anchor	–	Vitaly Vasilyev		–	0.31	25.53	54.02 (7)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	23 July 1996 — 21:00

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	United States	USA	3:15.41	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	OR
Lead-off	–	Jon Olsen		–	0.73	23.62	49.94 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Josh Davis		–	0.20	23.03	49.00 (2)	1:38.94 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Brad Schumacher		–	0.17	23.22	49.02 (2)	2:27.96 (3)
Anchor	–	Gary Hall, Jr.		–	0.09	21.87	47.45 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Russian Federation	RUS	3:17.06	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Roman Yegorov		–	0.81	23.36	49.95 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Aleksandr Popov		–	0.26	22.82	47.88 (1)	1:37.83 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Vladimir Predkin		–	0.10	23.29	49.51 (3)	2:27.34 (1)
Anchor	–	Vladimir Pyshnenko		–	0.50	23.83	49.72 (5)	– (–)
3	–	Germany	GER	3:17.20	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Christian Tröger		–	0.78	23.95	49.74 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Bengt Zikarsky		–	0.34	23.28	49.01 (3)	1:38.75 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Björn Zikarsky		–	0.28	23.13	48.81 (1)	2:27.56 (2)
Anchor	–	Mark Pinger		–	0.34	23.73	49.64 (4)	– (–)
4	–	Brazil	BRA	3:18.30	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Xuxa Scherer		–	0.78	23.79	49.69 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alexandre Massura		–	0.23	23.88	50.24 (7)	1:39.93 (4)
3rd Leg	–	André Cordeiro		–	0.22	23.87	50.38 (7)	2:30.31 (5)
Anchor	–	Gustavo Borges		–	0.17	22.55	47.99 (2)	– (–)
5	–	Netherlands	NED	3:19.02	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Mark Veens		–	0.81	24.49	50.66 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Pie Geelen		–	0.16	23.58	50.09 (5)	1:40.75 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Martin van der Spoel		–	0.12	23.20	49.98 (5)	2:30.73 (7)
Anchor	–	Pieter van den Hoogenband		–	0.16	22.63	48.29 (3)	– (–)
6	–	Australia	AUS	3:20.13	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Michael Klim		–	0.78	24.16	49.87 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Matt Dunn		–	0.23	24.10	50.50 (8)	1:40.37 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Scott Logan		–	0.28	23.64	49.97 (4)	2:30.34 (6)
Anchor	–	Chris Fydler		–	0.19	23.81	49.79 (6)	– (–)
7	–	Sweden	SWE	3:20.16	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Lars Frölander		–	0.72	24.05	50.01 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Fredrik Letzler		–	0.28	23.69	50.13 (6)	1:40.14 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Anders Holmertz		–	0.27	23.96	50.06 (6)	2:30.20 (4)
Anchor	–	Christer Wallin		–	0.31	23.27	49.96 (7)	– (–)
8	–	Great Britain	GBR	3:21.52	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Nick Shackell		–	0.74	24.66	50.50 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alan Rapley		–	0.30	23.91	49.76 (4)	1:40.26 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Mark Stevens		–	0.18	23.83	50.50 (8)	2:30.76 (8)
Anchor	–	Mike Fibbens		–	0.29	24.13	50.76 (8)	– (–)