| | Event type

4 × 200 metres Freestyle Relay, Men

Date	17 August 2004
Status	Olympic
Location	Olympiako Kentro Ugrou Stivou, Olympiako Athletiko Kentro Athinon Spiros Loues, Athina (Main Pool)
Participants	75 from 16 countries

Four years earlier in Sydney this event had seen Ian Thorpe lead the Australian team to a clear win over perennial Olympic champions, the United States, and smash the world record as well. Since Sydney the Australians had established themselves as the best team in the world and had won both world titles in the intervening period. The USA had slowly begun to regroup and a gap of 9 seconds between the Australians and Americans in 2001 had shrunk to just over a second at the 2003 World Championships. The emergence of Michael Phelps as a fully-fledged superstar began to tip the balance back in the Americans’ favour as was shown by Phelps pulling out a lead of over a second during the opening leg of the Olympic final then Peter Vanderkaay on the third leg pushed the US lead out a little further. Ian Thorpe tried to systematically break down the gap on the American anchor but, try as he might, it was not enough to haul back Klete Keller and the US held onto a lead of just thirteen hundredths of a second at the end.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	R1	Final
1	United States	USA	7:12.80 (1 h1)	7:07.33 (1)	Gold
	Klete Keller		–	–
	Ryan Lochte		–	–
	Michael Phelps		–	–
	Peter Vanderkaay		–	–
	Scott Goldblatt		–	–
	Dan Ketchum		–	–
2	Australia	AUS	7:14.85 (1 h2)	7:07.46 (2)	Silver
	Grant Hackett		–	–
	Michael Klim		–	–
	Nicholas Sprenger		–	–
	Ian Thorpe		–	–
	Antony Matkovich		–	–
	Todd Pearson		–	–
	Craig Stevens		–	–
3	Italy	ITA	7:18.26 (3 h2)	7:11.83 (3)	Bronze
	Emiliano Brembilla		–	–
	Simone Cercato		–	–
	Filippo Magnini		–	–
	Massi Rosolino		–	–
	Federico Cappellazzo		–	–
	Matteo Pelliciari		–	–
4	Great Britain	GBR	7:17.41 (2 h2)	7:12.60 (4)
	Simon Burnett		–	–
	Ross Davenport		–	–
	Gavin Meadows		–	–
	David O'Brien		–	–
	David Carry		–	–
5	Canada	CAN	7:18.05 (3 h1)	7:13.33 (5)
	Brent Hayden		–	–
	Andrew Hurd		–	–
	Brian Johns		–	–
	Rick Say		–	–
	Mark Johnston		–	–
6	Germany	GER	7:16.75 (2 h1)	7:16.51 (6)
	Lars Conrad		–	–
	Heiko Hell		–	–
	Christian Keller		–	–
	Jens Schreiber		–	–
	Stefan Herbst		–	–
	Johannes Oesterling		–	–
7	France	FRA	7:21.31 (4 h1)	7:17.43 (7)
	Fabien Horth		–	–
	Nicolas Kintz		–	–
	Amaury Leveaux		–	–
	Nicolas Rostoucher		–	–
8	Greece	GRE	7:19.71 (4 h2)	7:23.02 (8)
	Apostolos Antonopoulos		–	–
	Dimitrios Manganas		–	–
	Nikos Xylouris		–	–
	Andreas Zisimos		–	–
9	Brazil	BRA	7:22.70 (5 h2)	–
	Bruno Bonfim		–	–
	Rodrigo Castro		–	–
	Carlos Jayme		–	–
	Rafael Mósca		–	–
10	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:22.87 (5 h1)	–
	Chen Zuo		–	–
	Huang Shaohua		–	–
	Liu Yu		–	–
	Zheng Kunliang		–	–
11	Russian Federation	RUS	7:23.97 (6 h2)	–
	Stepan Ganzey		–	–
	Maksim Kuznetsov		–	–
	Yevgeny Natsvin		–	–
	Aleksey Zatsepin		–	–
12	Ukraine	UKR	7:24.13 (6 h1)	–
	Serhiy Advena		–	–
	Serhiy Fesenko		–	–
	Maksym Kokosha		–	–
	Dmytro Vereitynov		–	–
13	Czech Republic	CZE	7:26.26 (7 h2)	–
	Josef Horký		–	–
	Michal Rubáček		–	–
	Martin Škacha		–	–
	Květoslav Svoboda		–	–
14	Portugal	POR	7:27.99 (7 h1)	–
	João Araújo		–	–
	Luís Monteiro		–	–
	Adriano Niz		–	–
	Miguel Pires		–	–
15	Mexico	MEX	7:29.54 (8 h1)	–
	Javier Díaz		–	–
	Josh Ilika		–	–
	Leonardo Salinas		–	–
	Alejandro Siqueiros		–	–
16	Hungary	HUN	7:31.78 (8 h2)	–
	Balázs Gercsák		–	–
	Tamás Kerékjártó		–	–
	Balázs Makány		–	–
	Tamás Szűcs		–	–

Round One

Date	17 August 2004
Format	Fastest eight advanced to the final.

Pos	Lane	Team	NOC	Time
1	–	United States	USA	7:12.80	Q
2	–	Australia	AUS	7:14.85	Q
3	–	Germany	GER	7:16.75	Q
4	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:17.41	Q
5	–	Canada	CAN	7:18.05	Q
6	–	Italy	ITA	7:18.26	Q
7	–	Greece	GRE	7:19.71	Q
8	–	France	FRA	7:21.31	Q
9	–	Brazil	BRA	7:22.70
10	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:22.87
11	–	Russian Federation	RUS	7:23.97
12	–	Ukraine	UKR	7:24.13
13	–	Czech Republic	CZE	7:26.26
14	–	Portugal	POR	7:27.99
15	–	Mexico	MEX	7:29.54
16	–	Hungary	HUN	7:31.78

Heat #1

Time	11:10

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	United States	USA	7:12.80	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Scott Goldblatt		–	0.71	25.99	53.76	1:21.65	1:49.53 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ryan Lochte		–	0.35	24.59	51.83	1:19.39	1:47.39 (1)	3:36.92 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Dan Ketchum		–	0.42	25.40	52.50	1:20.77	1:48.10 (1)	5:25.02 (1)
Anchor	–	Peter Vanderkaay		–	0.11	24.60	52.01	1:19.97	1:47.78 (1)	– (–)
2	–	Germany	GER	7:16.75	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Johannes Oesterling		–	0.85	26.39	54.22	1:22.26	1:50.37 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Stefan Herbst		–	0.09	24.45	51.52	1:19.96	1:48.92 (3)	3:39.29 (=2)
3rd Leg	–	Heiko Hell		–	0.19	25.44	52.72	1:20.91	1:48.66 (2)	5:27.95 (2)
Anchor	–	Christian Keller		–	0.18	24.59	51.77	1:20.28	1:48.80 (2)	– (–)
3	–	Canada	CAN	7:18.05	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Mark Johnston		–	0.86	26.14	54.07	1:22.39	1:50.87 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Andrew Hurd		–	0.18	25.23	52.99	1:21.11	1:48.86 (2)	3:39.73 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Brian Johns		–	0.20	24.91	52.58	1:20.74	1:48.73 (3)	5:28.46 (3)
Anchor	–	Rick Say		–	0.30	25.21	52.80	1:21.22	1:49.59 (3)	– (–)
4	–	France	FRA	7:21.31	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Amaury Leveaux		–	0.76	26.01	54.19	1:22.43	1:49.65 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Fabien Horth		–	0.23	24.94	52.36	1:20.98	1:49.64 (4)	3:39.29 (=2)
3rd Leg	–	Nicolas Kintz		–	0.13	25.27	53.24	1:21.71	1:50.36 (5)	5:29.65 (4)
Anchor	–	Nicolas Rostoucher		–	0.45	25.81	53.83	1:22.78	1:51.66 (7)	– (–)
5	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	7:22.87	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Liu Yu		–	0.83	26.15	54.08	1:22.81	1:51.36 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Chen Zuo		–	0.47	25.29	53.09	1:22.07	1:49.79 (5)	3:41.15 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Zheng Kunliang		–	0.44	25.68	53.63	1:22.05	1:51.34 (6)	5:32.49 (5)
Anchor	–	Huang Shaohua		–	0.47	25.01	52.51	1:21.05	1:50.38 (4)	– (–)
6	–	Ukraine	UKR	7:24.13	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Serhiy Fesenko		–	0.91	26.33	54.45	1:22.91	1:50.86 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Maksym Kokosha		–	0.31	25.27	53.82	1:22.94	1:52.03 (6)	3:42.89 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Dmytro Vereitynov		–	0.43	25.82	53.62	1:21.67	1:50.34 (4)	5:33.23 (6)
Anchor	–	Serhiy Advena		–	0.40	26.42	54.21	1:22.73	1:50.90 (6)	– (–)
7	–	Portugal	POR	7:27.99	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Luís Monteiro		–	0.88	26.08	53.96	1:22.63	1:50.43 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Adriano Niz		–	0.42	25.76	54.34	1:23.29	1:52.35 (7)	3:42.78 (6)
3rd Leg	–	João Araújo		–	0.14	26.42	55.10	1:25.10	1:54.50 (8)	5:37.28 (8)
Anchor	–	Miguel Pires		–	0.51	25.43	53.04	1:21.68	1:50.71 (5)	– (–)
8	–	Mexico	MEX	7:29.54	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Josh Ilika		–	0.76	25.90	53.97	1:22.32	1:51.01 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Alejandro Siqueiros		–	0.31	25.29	53.21	1:22.44	1:52.51 (8)	3:43.52 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Javier Díaz		–	0.33	25.98	53.81	1:22.75	1:53.34 (7)	5:36.86 (7)
Anchor	–	Leonardo Salinas		–	0.11	26.64	55.26	1:24.11	1:52.68 (8)	– (–)

Heat #2

Time	11:20

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	Australia	AUS	7:14.85	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Todd Pearson		–	0.81	25.77	53.45	1:21.52	1:49.09 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Antony Matkovich		–	0.10	25.46	52.93	1:20.69	1:49.34 (4)	3:38.43 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Nicholas Sprenger		–	0.23	24.95	51.95	1:19.78	1:47.73 (1)	5:26.16 (1)
Anchor	–	Craig Stevens		–	0.08	25.60	53.10	1:21.07	1:48.69 (2)	– (–)
2	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:17.41	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Simon Burnett		–	0.75	26.77	54.44	1:22.50	1:50.43 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ross Davenport		–	0.30	25.30	52.77	1:21.24	1:49.24 (2)	3:39.67 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Gavin Meadows		–	0.16	24.51	51.80	1:20.24	1:48.46 (2)	5:28.13 (2)
Anchor	–	David Carry		–	0.31	25.22	52.85	1:20.99	1:49.28 (4)	– (–)
3	–	Italy	ITA	7:18.26	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Matteo Pelliciari		–	0.92	26.41	54.07	1:22.58	1:50.63 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Simone Cercato		–	0.46	25.69	53.18	1:21.03	1:49.08 (1)	3:39.71 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Federico Cappellazzo		–	0.27	25.58	53.51	1:21.75	1:50.08 (4)	5:29.79 (4)
Anchor	–	Massi Rosolino		–	0.36	25.66	52.89	1:20.92	1:48.47 (1)	– (–)
4	–	Greece	GRE	7:19.71	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)	Q
Lead-off	–	Andreas Zisimos		–	0.86	25.84	53.55	1:22.17	1:50.99 (6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Dimitrios Manganas		–	0.37	25.51	53.51	1:22.20	1:50.21 (5)	3:41.20 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Apostolos Antonopoulos		–	0.24	25.10	53.01	1:21.29	1:48.58 (3)	5:29.78 (3)
Anchor	–	Nikos Xylouris		–	0.58	25.24	52.46	1:20.98	1:49.93 (5)	– (–)
5	–	Brazil	BRA	7:22.70	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Rodrigo Castro		–	0.69	26.40	54.31	1:22.83	1:50.67 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Bruno Bonfim		–	0.31	25.71	53.83	1:22.59	1:51.45 (6)	3:42.12 (6)
3rd Leg	–	Carlos Jayme		–	0.16	24.63	52.63	1:21.67	1:51.46 (6)	5:33.58 (6)
Anchor	–	Rafael Mósca		–	0.03	24.79	52.35	1:20.90	1:49.12 (3)	– (–)
6	–	Russian Federation	RUS	7:23.97	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Maksim Kuznetsov		–	0.84	25.75	53.84	1:22.40	1:50.81 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Aleksey Zatsepin		–	0.16	25.24	53.07	1:22.43	1:51.75 (7)	3:42.56 (7)
3rd Leg	–	Stepan Ganzey		–	0.32	25.01	52.74	1:21.33	1:50.18 (5)	5:32.74 (5)
Anchor	–	Yevgeny Natsvin		–	0.25	25.60	53.65	1:22.50	1:51.23 (6)	– (–)
7	–	Czech Republic	CZE	7:26.26	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Michal Rubáček		–	0.82	25.78	53.84	1:22.52	1:51.37 (7)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Květoslav Svoboda		–	0.23	25.16	52.61	1:20.58	1:49.25 (3)	3:40.62 (4)
3rd Leg	–	Josef Horký		–	0.15	25.74	54.33	1:23.31	1:53.29 (8)	5:33.91 (7)
Anchor	–	Martin Škacha		–	0.42	25.12	53.00	1:22.42	1:52.35 (=7)	– (–)
8	–	Hungary	HUN	7:31.78	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Tamás Kerékjártó		–	0.72	26.52	54.96	1:23.84	1:52.65 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Balázs Gercsák		–	0.41	26.39	54.97	1:24.32	1:54.03 (8)	3:46.68 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Balázs Makány		–	0.14	25.38	53.99	1:23.57	1:52.75 (7)	5:39.43 (8)
Anchor	–	Tamás Szűcs		–	0.54	25.75	53.97	1:23.15	1:52.35 (=7)	– (–)

Final Round

Date	17 August 2004 — 20:51

Pos	Lane	Competitors	NOC	Time	Reaction Time	50 metre Time	100 m Time	150 m Time	Split	Exchange
1	–	United States	USA	7:07.33	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Michael Phelps		–	0.77	25.15	52.29	1:19.71	1:46.49 (1)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Ryan Lochte		–	0.37	24.66	52.19	1:19.91	1:47.52 (2)	3:34.01 (1)
3rd Leg	–	Peter Vanderkaay		–	0.18	24.63	52.11	1:20.05	1:47.79 (1)	5:21.80 (1)
Anchor	–	Klete Keller		–	0.27	25.01	51.86	1:18.89	1:45.53 (2)	– (–)
2	–	Australia	AUS	7:07.46	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Grant Hackett		–	0.75	25.14	52.34	1:20.02	1:47.50 (2)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Michael Klim		–	0.25	24.27	51.45	1:19.18	1:47.62 (3)	3:35.12 (3)
3rd Leg	–	Nicholas Sprenger		–	0.22	25.40	52.67	1:20.50	1:48.16 (3)	5:23.28 (2)
Anchor	–	Ian Thorpe		–	0.26	24.03	50.78	1:17.95	1:44.18 (1)	– (–)
3	–	Italy	ITA	7:11.83	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Emiliano Brembilla		–	0.82	25.72	52.75	1:20.45	1:48.16 (4)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Massi Rosolino		–	0.22	24.77	51.90	1:19.22	1:46.24 (1)	3:34.40 (2)
3rd Leg	–	Simone Cercato		–	0.34	25.35	5.288	1:21.40	1:49.85 (6)	5:24.25 (3)
Anchor	–	Filippo Magnini		–	0.18	24.34	52.07	1:20.11	1:47.58 (5)	– (–)
4	–	Great Britain	GBR	7:12.60	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Simon Burnett		–	0.71	25.25	52.47	1:20.23	1:47.90 (3)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Gavin Meadows		–	0.17	24.73	52.83	1:21.20	1:48.46 (4)	3:36.36 (4)
3rd Leg	–	David O'Brien		–	0.26	24.90	52.26	1:20.65	1:49.05 (5)	5:25.41 (4)
Anchor	–	Ross Davenport		–	0.30	24.79	52.24	1:19.90	1:47.19 (4)	– (–)
5	–	Canada	CAN	7:13.33	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Brent Hayden		–	0.82	25.12	52.61	1:20.67	1:49.08 (=6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Brian Johns		–	0.22	25.00	53.01	1:21.44	1:49.15 (=6)	3:38.23 (=6)
3rd Leg	–	Andrew Hurd		–	0.35	24.75	52.35	1:20.16	1:48.09 (2)	5:26.32 (5)
Anchor	–	Rick Say		–	0.28	24.37	51.36	1:19.10	1:47.01 (3)	– (–)
6	–	Germany	GER	7:16.51	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Jens Schreiber		–	0.84	25.36	52.94	1:21.26	1:49.08 (=6)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Heiko Hell		–	0.33	24.92	52.68	1:21.30	1:49.15 (=6)	3:38.23 (=6)
3rd Leg	–	Lars Conrad		–	0.23	24.40	51.89	1:20.13	1:48.23 (4)	5:26.46 (6)
Anchor	–	Christian Keller		–	0.09	24.55	52.61	1:21.41	1:50.05 (6)	– (–)
7	–	France	FRA	7:17.43	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Amaury Leveaux		–	0.80	25.41	53.07	1:21.11	1:48.57 (5)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Fabien Horth		–	0.27	24.76	52.36	1:20.62	1:48.67 (5)	3:37.24 (5)
3rd Leg	–	Nicolas Kintz		–	0.17	25.01	52.66	1:21.15	1:50.01 (7)	5:27.25 (7)
Anchor	–	Nicolas Rostoucher		–	0.31	26.02	53.97	1:22.40	1:50.18 (7)	– (–)
8	–	Greece	GRE	7:23.02	–	–	–	–	– (–)	– (–)
Lead-off	–	Apostolos Antonopoulos		–	0.82	25.39	53.32	1:21.85	1:50.34 (8)	– (–)
2nd Leg	–	Dimitrios Manganas		–	0.56	26.17	54.51	1:23.35	1:51.33 (8)	3:41.67 (8)
3rd Leg	–	Andreas Zisimos		–	0.36	25.51	53.80	1:22.25	1:50.26 (8)	5:31.93 (8)
Anchor	–	Nikos Xylouris		–	0.55	26.28	54.69	1:22.96	1:51.09 (8)	– (–)