| Event: | Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay |
| Games: | 2000 Summer |
| Venue: | Sydney International Aquatic Centre |
| Dates: | September 19, 2000 (heats & final) |
| Competitors: | 75 |
| Nations: | 16 |
| Win Value: | 7:07.05 |
| Gold: | Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim, Todd Pearson, Bill Kirby, Grant Hackett*, Daniel Kowalski* |
| Silver: | Scott Goldblatt, Josh Davis, Jamie Rauch, Klete Keller, Nate Dusing*, Chad Carvin* |
| Bronze: | Martijn Zuijdweg, Johan Kenkhuis, Marcel Wouda, Pieter van den Hoogenband, Mark van der Zijden* *Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats. |
| Prev: | 1996 |
| Next: | 2004 |
The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 19 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.[1]
After defeating the Americans to capture the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay title four days earlier, the Australians added another relay gold medal to their hardware in the event by the delight of a raucous home crowd. Dominating the race from start to finish, the Aussie foursome of Ian Thorpe (1:46.03), Michael Klim (1:46.40), Todd Pearson (1:47.36), and Bill Kirby (1:47.26) posted a sterling time of 7:07.05 to demolish a new world record and cut off the former Soviet Union's 1992 Olympic standard by almost four seconds.[2] [3]
Team USA's Scott Goldblatt (1:49.66), Josh Davis (1:46.49), Jamie Rauch (1:48.74) sent Klete Keller to be an anchor for a second-place battle. Trailing behind the Dutch and the Italians with only 25 metres left, Keller fought off a tight challenge with a split of 1:47.75 to snatch the silver for the Americans in 7:12.64. Meanwhile, the Netherlands moved from fifth-place turns by Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.60), Johan Kenkhuis (1:51.18), and Marcel Wouda (1:48.56) to race on the final stretch for the bronze in 7:12.70, after producing a superb anchor of 1:44.88, the fastest split of all time, set by Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband.[4] [5] [6]
The Italian team of Andrea Beccari (1:49.67), Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.41), Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.92), and Massimiliano Rosolino (1:45.91) missed the podium with a fourth-place time of 7:12.91, holding off the fast-pacing Brits' Edward Sinclair (1:49.61), Paul Palmer (1:47.15), Marc Spackman (1:48.85), and James Salter (1:47.37) by seven-hundredths of a second (7:12.98).[7] Germany (7:20.19), Canada (7:21.92), and Russia (7:24.37) rounded out the championship finale.[6]
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Grant Hackett (1:50.31) Bill Kirby (1:47.76) Todd Pearson (1:47.68) Daniel Kowalski (1:48.52) | 7:14.27 | Q | ||
| 2 | 1 | 4 | Chad Carvin (1:49.65) Nate Dusing (1:49.44) Jamie Rauch (1:48.94) Klete Keller (1:49.19) | 7:17.22 | Q | ||
| 3 | 1 | 5 | Andrea Beccari (1:49.30) Klaus Lanzarini (1:49.77) Simone Cercato (1:50.36) Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.26) | 7:17.69 | Q | ||
| 4 | 2 | 3 | Heiko Hell (1:50.48) Michael Kiedel (1:50.64) Christian Keller (1:49.12) Stefan Herbst (1:49.71) | 7:19.95 | Q | ||
| 5 | 2 | 6 | Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.60) Mark van der Zijden (1:51.18) Johan Kenkhuis (1:50.27) Marcel Wouda (1:49.62) | 7:20.67 | Q | ||
| 6 | 2 | 5 | James Salter (1:49.62) Andrew Clayton (1:51.87) Marc Spackman (1:49.94) Edward Sinclair (1:49.26) | 7:20.69 | Q | ||
| 7 | 1 | 3 | Mark Johnston (1:50.24) Brian Johns (1:51.19) Mike Mintenko (1:49.79) Rick Say (1:50.23) | 7:21.45 | Q | ||
| 8 | 1 | 6 | Andrey Kapralov (1:49.52) Aleksey Yegorov (1:52.67) Sergey Lavrenov (1:51.68) Dmitry Chernyshov (1:49.71) | 7:23.58 | Q | ||
| 9 | 2 | 2 | Dragoș Coman (1:50.25) Cezar Bădiță (1:49.90) Răzvan Florea (1:52.85) Ioan Gherghel (1:51.06) | 7:24.06 | |||
| 10 | 1 | 1 | Attila Czene (1:52.66) Zsolt Gáspár (1:51.86) Jácint Simon (1:50.32) Bela Szabados (1:49.64) | 7:24.48 | NR | ||
| 11 | 2 | 7 | Jacob Carstensen (1:49.80) Henrik Steen Andersen (1:51.51) Jeppe Nielsen (1:51.98) Dennis Otzen Jensen (1:51.34) | 7:24.63 | |||
| 12 | 1 | 7 | Igor Koleda (1:49.44) Pavel Lagoun (1:52.83) Dmitry Koptur (1:51.14) Valeryan Khuroshvili (1:51.42) | 7:24.83 | |||
| 13 | 1 | 2 | Edvaldo Silva Filho (1:51.68) Leonardo Costa (1:51.53) Luiz Lima (1:51.81) Rodrigo Castro (1:51.40) | 7:26.42 | |||
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Sergey Fesenko (1:54.11) Igor Snitko (1:52.31) Artem Goncharenko (1:52.98) Rostyslav Svanidze (1:52.76) | 7:32.16 | |||
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Athanasios Oikonomou (1:52.72) Dimitrios Manganas (1:54.58) Spyridon Bitsakis (1:55.23) Spyridon Gianniotis (1:53.24) | 7:35.77 | |||
| 1 | 8 |
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Ian Thorpe (1:46.03) Michael Klim (1:46.40) Todd Pearson (1:47.36) Bill Kirby (1:47.26) | 7:07.05 | |||||
| 5 | Scott Goldblatt (1:49.66) Josh Davis (1:46.49) Jamie Rauch (1:48.74) Klete Keller (1:47.75) | 7:12.64 | 5.59 | ||||
| 2 | Martijn Zuijdweg (1:49.89) Johan Kenkhuis (1:49.37) Marcel Wouda (1:48.56) Pieter van den Hoogenband (1:44.88) | 7:12.70 | 5.65 | NR | |||
| 4 | 3 | Andrea Beccari (1:49.67) Matteo Pelliciari (1:48.41) Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.92) Massimiliano Rosolino (1:45.91) | 7:12.91 | 5.86 | |||
| 5 | 7 | Edward Sinclair (1:49.61) Paul Palmer (1:47.15) Marc Spackman (1:48.85) James Salter (1:47.37) | 7:12.98 | 5.93 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Stefan Pohl (1:50.83) Christian Keller (1:50.01) Stefan Herbst (1:49.05) Christian Tröger (1:50.30) | 7:20.19 | 13.14 | |||
| 7 | 1 | Mark Johnston (1:50.44) Mike Mintenko (1:49.94) Rick Say (1:48.71) Yannick Lupien (1:52.83) | 7:21.92 | 14.87 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Dmitry Chernyshov (1:50.44) Andrey Kapralov (1:51.16) Sergey Lavrenov (1:51.65) Alexei Filipets (1:51.12) | 7:24.37 | 17.32 |