Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
| Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
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| Venue | London Aquatics Centre | |||||||||
| Dates | July 31, 2012 (heats & final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 84 from 16 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 6:59.70 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
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 United States (USA)Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens, Michael Phelps, Charlie Houchin*, Matt McLean*, Davis Tarwater* |
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 France (FRA)Amaury Leveaux, Grégory Mallet, Clément Lefert, Yannick Agnel, Jérémy Stravius* |
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*Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats. |
China (CHN)
Hao Yun, Li Yunqi, Jiang Haiqi, Sun Yang, Lü Zhiwu*, Dai Jun*
The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on 31 July at the London Aquatics Centre in London, United Kingdom.
The U.S. men's team smashed the seven-minute barrier in textile to defend the Olympic title in the event, and most importantly, to keep Michael Phelps' all-time record alive. The American foursome of Ryan Lochte (1:45.15), Conor Dwyer (1:45.23), Ricky Berens (1:45.27), and Phelps (1:44.05) dominated the race from the start to put together a blazing fast finish in 6:59.70. As the Americans defended their Olympic title, Phelps also surpassed Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina to become the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time with a remarkable career tally of nineteen medals (15 golds, 2 silver, and 2 bronze).
France's Amaury Leveaux (1:46.70), Grégory Mallet (1:46.83), Clément Lefert (1:46.00), and Yannick Agnel (1:43.24, the fastest split in the field) trailed behind their newest rivals in the pool by a couple of seconds to take home the silver in 7:02.77. Meanwhile, China's Hao Yun (1:47.12), Li Yunqi (1:46.46), and Jiang Haiqi (1:47.17) struggled to keep their momentum throughout the race before Sun Yang dove into the pool at the final exchange. Sun then produced an astonishing anchor of 1:45.55 to deliver the Chinese team a historic relay bronze medal in 7:06.30, holding off the aggressive German foursome of Paul Biedermann (1:46.15), Dimitri Colupaev (1:46.36), Tim Wallburger (1:47.48), and Clemens Rapp (1:46.60) by 29-hundredths of a second with a fourth-place finish (7:06.59).
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