Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay explained

Event:	Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay
Games:	2000 Summer
Venue:	Sydney International Aquatic Centre
Date:	September 22, 2000 (heats) September 23, 2000 (final)
Competitors:	102
Nations:	24
Win Value:	3:33.73
Gold:	Lenny Krayzelburg, Ed Moses, Ian Crocker, Gary Hall, Jr., Neil Walker, Tommy Hannan, Jason Lezak*
Silver:	Matt Welsh, Regan Harrison, Geoff Huegill, Michael Klim, Josh Watson, Ryan Mitchell, Adam Pine, Ian Thorpe
Bronze:	Stev Theloke, Jens Kruppa, Thomas Rupprath, Torsten Spanneberg *Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats.
Prev:	1996
Next:	2004

The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on 22–23 September at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia.^[1]

Having not lost the event once in Olympic competition since its inception in 1960, the U.S. team dominated the race from the start to demolish a four-year-old world record and most importantly, to defend their Olympic title. Lenny Krayzelburg (53.87), Ed Moses (59.84), Ian Crocker (52.10), and Gary Hall, Jr. (47.92, an American record) put together a blazing fast finish of 3:33.73 to cut off their own standard by 1.11 seconds. Moses also produced a mighty effort in the breaststroke leg as he became the first ever swimmer to record a sub one-minute barrier split.^[2] ^[3] After accepting their gold medals in front of the Aussie home crowd, the U.S. men unfurled a banner reading: "Sydney 2000. In our hearts forever. Thanks Australia."^[4]

The Aussie team of Matt Welsh (54.29), Regan Harrison (1:01.48), Geoff Huegill (51.33), and Michael Klim (48.17) finished behind their greatest rivals by a couple of seconds, but made a surprise packet with the silver in an Oceanian record of 3:35.27. Meanwhile, Stev Theloke (55.07), Jens Kruppa (1:00.52), Thomas Rupprath (52.14), and Torsten Spanneberg (48.15) earned their first medley relay medal for Germany since the nation's reunification in 1990, taking home the bronze in a European record of 3:35.88.^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

Netherlands' Klaas-Erik Zwering (56.83), Marcel Wouda (1:01.20), Joris Keizer (52.26), and anchor Pieter van den Hoogenband (47.24, the fastest split of the race) missed the podium by more than a full body length over the Germans with a fourth-place time of 3:37.53. Hungary (3:39.03), Canada (3:39.88), France (3:40.02), and Great Britain (3:40.19) completed a close finish at the rear of the championship finale.^[6]

Records

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.

Results

Heats

Rank	Heat	Lane	Swimmers	Time	Notes
1	3	3	Stev Theloke (55.54) Jens Kruppa (1:01.39) Thomas Rupprath (52.39) Torsten Spanneberg (49.18)	3:38.50	Q, NR
2	1	7	Péter Horváth (55.74) Károly Güttler (1:01.52) Zsolt Gáspár (52.36) Attila Zubor (48.96)	3:38.58	Q, NR
3	3	4	Neil Walker (55.10) Ed Moses (1:01.34) Tommy Hannan (53.32) Jason Lezak (48.83)	3:38.59	Q
4	2	4	Josh Watson (55.39) Ryan Mitchell (1:02.29) Adam Pine (52.87) Ian Thorpe (48.83)	3:39.38	Q
5	3	5	Neil Willey (56.13) Darren Mew (1:01.01) James Hickman (52.84) Sion Brinn (49.62)	3:39.60	Q
6	2	5	Klaas-Erik Zwering (56.99) Marcel Wouda (1:01.74) Joris Keizer (52.24) Mark Veens (49.13)	3:40.10	Q
7	1	6	Simon Dufour (55.82) Hugues Duboscq (1:02.16) Franck Esposito (52.60) Frédérick Bousquet (49.73)	3:40.31	Q
8	1	5	Chris Renaud (56.26) Morgan Knabe (1:00.88) Shamek Pietucha (53.27) Yannick Lupien (50.15)	3:40.56	Q
9	1	4	Vladislav Aminov (56.53) Dmitry Komornikov (1:01.70) Igor Marchenko (53.75) Denis Pimankov (48.85)	3:40.83
10	1	3	Mattias Ohlin (57.05) Martin Gustavsson (1:01.86) Daniel Carlsson (53.30) Stefan Nystrand (48.67)	3:40.88
11	3	6	Volodymyr Nikolaychuk (56.41) Oleg Lisogor (1:01.84) Denys Sylantyev (52.99) Vyacheslav Shyrshov (49.81)	3:41.05
12	2	3	Alexandre Massura (55.83) Eduardo Fischer (1:03.49) Fernando Scherer (53.80) Gustavo Borges (49.19)	3:42.31
13	2	1	Simon Thirsk (56.88) Brett Petersen (1:02.51) Theo Verster (53.52) Nicholas Folker (49.53)	3:42.44	AF
14	3	8	Gordan Kožulj (56.52) Vanja Rogulj (1:02.19) Miloš Milošević (54.08) Duje Draganja (49.94)	3:42.73	NR
15	3	2	David Ortega (55.68) Santiago Castellanos (1:03.15) Daniel Morales (53.91) Javier Botello (50.02)	3:42.76
16	1	2	Philipp Gilgen (57.31) Remo Lütolf (1:01.64) Philippe Meyer (53.95) Karel Novy (49.88)	3:42.78	NR
17	2	7	Eithan Urbach (56.12) Tal Stricker (1:02.65) Yoav Meiri (54.54) Yoav Bruck (50.08)	3:43.39	NR
18	3	7	Eduardo Germán Otero (58.00) Sergio Andres Ferreyra (1:02.73) Pablo Martín Abal (53.96) José Meolans (48.92)	3:43.61
19	1	8	Aleksandr Shilin (57.88) Alexander Tkachev (1:03.69) Konstantin Ushkov (54.05) Sergey Ashihmin (51.08)	3:46.70	NR
20	3	1	Rodolfo Falcón (55.97) Gunter Rodríguez (1:05.40) Yohan García (55.65) Marcos Hernández (49.86)	3:46.88
21	2	8	Fu Yong (58.34) Zhu Yi (1:03.35) Ouyang Kunpeng (53.96) Xie Xufeng (51.72)	3:47.37
22	1	1	Alex Lim (58.48) Elvin Chia (1:03.18) Anthony Ang (55.70) Allen Ong (50.96)	3:48.32
	2	6
	2	2

Final

Rank	Lane	Swimmers	Time	Time behind	Notes
	3	Lenny Krayzelburg (53.87) Ed Moses (59.84) Ian Crocker (52.10) Gary Hall, Jr. (47.92)	3:33.73
	2	Matt Welsh (54.29) Regan Harrison (1:01.48) Geoff Huegill (51.33) Michael Klim (48.17)	3:35.27	1.54	OC
	4	Stev Theloke (55.07) Jens Kruppa (1:00.52) Thomas Rupprath (52.14) Torsten Spanneberg (48.15)	3:35.88	2.15	EU
4	7	Klaas-Erik Zwering (56.83) Marcel Wouda (1:01.20) Joris Keizer (52.26) Pieter van den Hoogenband (47.24)	3:37.53	3.80	NR
5	5	Péter Horváth (55.90) Károly Güttler (1:01.23) Zsolt Gáspár (52.95) Attila Zubor (49.01)	3:39.09	5.36
6	8	Chris Renaud (55.66) Morgan Knabe (1:01.23) Mike Mintenko (52.66) Craig Hutchison (50.33)	3:39.88	6.15
7	1	Simon Dufour (55.67) Hugues Duboscq (1:01.69) Franck Esposito (52.80) Frédérick Bousquet (49.86)	3:40.02	6.29
8	6	Neil Willey (56.49) Darren Mew (1:01.76) James Hickman (52.53) Sion Brinn (49.41)	3:40.19	6.46

External links

Official Olympic Report

Notes and References

Web site: Swimming schedule . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 September 2000. 14 May 2013.
News: Fitzpatrick. Frank. U.S. Swimmers Didn't Take A Back Seat Australia Was Expected To Dominate In The Pool At This Olympics. The Americans Proved That Wrong. https://web.archive.org/web/20160215011825/http://articles.philly.com/2000-09-24/sports/25581917_1_medals-australian-grant-hackett-meter. dead. February 15, 2016. The Philadelphia Inquirer. 23 September 2000. 26 June 2013.
News: Clarey. Christopher. Sydney 2000: Swimming; U.S. Makes Biggest, and the Final, Waves. New York Times. 23 September 2000. 26 June 2013.
Thrilling conclusion. https://web.archive.org/web/20010501235938/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2000/swimming/news/2000/09/22/swim_saturday_ap/. dead. May 1, 2001. Sports Illustrated. CNN. 22 September 2000. 28 June 2013.
News: Thompson wins eighth gold medal. ESPN. 22 September 2000. 26 June 2013.
News: Whitten. Phillip. Olympic Day 8 Finals – Complete. Swimming World Magazine. 23 September 2000. 28 May 2013. dead. https://archive.today/20130615050126/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1820.asp. 15 June 2013.