Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay
| Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
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| Venue | Sydney International Aquatic Centre | |||||||||
| Dates | September 16, 2000 (heats & final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 100 from 23 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 3:13.67 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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 Australia (AUS)Michael Klim, Chris Fydler, Ashley Callus, Ian Thorpe, Todd Pearson*, Adam Pine* |
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 United States (USA)Anthony Ervin, Neil Walker, Jason Lezak, Gary Hall, Jr., Scott Tucker*, Josh Davis* |
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*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats. |
Brazil (BRA)
Fernando Scherer, Gustavo Borges, Carlos Jayme, Edvaldo Silva Filho
The men's 4×100 metre freestyle relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 16 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.
For the first time in 36 years, the Australians solidified their triumph in front of a raucous home crowd as they upset the undefeated Americans to capture an Olympic title in the event. Leading by 0.15 seconds at the final relay exchange, Ian Thorpe was passed by U.S. swimmer Gary Hall, Jr. at the 350 meters mark, but eventually recovered and touched the wall first with an anchor of 48.30 to deliver the Aussie foursome of Michael Klim (48.18), Chris Fydler (48.48), and Ashley Callus (48.74) a gold-medal time in 3:13.67. Leading off the race, Klim also established a global standard to shave 0.03 seconds off the record set by his Russian training partner Alexander Popov in 1994. As Thorpe jumped out of the pool to congratulate his team, Klim pretended to play an air guitar to mock Hall's pre-Olympic race reference, claiming that the Americans would "smash the Aussies like guitars".
Team USA's Hall (48.24), Anthony Ervin (48.89), Neil Walker (48.31), and Jason Lezak (48.42) lost a powerful challenge to the Aussies only for the silver in a new American record of 3:13.86, the second-fastest time in history, finishing 1.25 seconds under their five-year-old world record. Meanwhile, Brazil's team of Fernando Scherer (49.79), Gustavo Borges (48.61), Carlos Jayme (49.88), Edvaldo Silva Filho (49.12) earned their first ever relay medal in 20 years, as they took home the bronze with a time of 3:17.40.
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