| Event: | Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay |
| Games: | 2004 Summer |
| Venue: | Olympic Aquatic Centre |
| Dates: | August 15, 2004 (heats & final) |
| Competitors: | 75 |
| Nations: | 16 |
| Win Value: | 3:13.17 |
| Gold: | Roland Mark Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, Ryk Neethling |
| Silver: | Johan Kenkhuis, Mitja Zastrow, Klaas-Erik Zwering, Pieter van den Hoogenband, Mark Veens* |
| Bronze: | Ian Crocker, Michael Phelps, Neil Walker, Jason Lezak, Nate Dusing*, Gary Hall Jr.*, Gabe Woodward* *Indicates the swimmer only competed in the preliminary heats. |
| Prev: | 2000 |
| Next: | 2008 |
The men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay took place on 15 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.[1]
The South African team (Roland Mark Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, and Ryk Neethling) set a new world record of 3:13.17 to solidify their country's triumph with a gold medal in the event. Defending Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband swam a fastest split of 46.79 to take the silver for the Dutch in a national record of 3:14.36, leaving the U.S. team of Ian Crocker, Michael Phelps, Neil Walker, and Jason Lezak with the bronze in 3:14.62, their worst result in Olympic history.[2] [3]
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 | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Roland Mark Schoeman (48.17) AF Lyndon Ferns (48.13) Darian Townsend (48.96) Ryk Neethling (47.91) | 3:13.17 | |||||
| 6 | Johan Kenkhuis (49.81) Mitja Zastrow (49.25) Klaas-Erik Zwering (48.51) Pieter van den Hoogenband (46.79) | 3:14.36 | 1.19 | NR | |||
| 5 | Ian Crocker (50.05) Michael Phelps (48.74) Neil Walker (47.97) Jason Lezak (47.86) | 3:14.62 | 1.45 | ||||
| 4 | 2 | Andrey Kapralov (49.27) Yevgeny Lagunov (49.17) Denis Pimankov (49.25) Alexander Popov (48.06) | 3:15.75 | 2.68 | |||
| 3 | Lorenzo Vismara (49.16) Filippo Magnini (48.30) Michele Scarica (49.21) Christian Galenda (49.08) | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | Michael Klim (49.37) Todd Pearson (49.07) Eamon Sullivan (49.19) Ian Thorpe (48.14) | 3:15.77 | 2.70 | |||
| 7 | 7 | Romain Barnier (49.65) Julien Sicot (49.31) Fabien Gilot (48.95) Frédérick Bousquet (48.32) | 3:16.23 | 3.06 | |||
| 8 | 8 | Jens Schreiber (49.88) Lars Conrad (48.72) Torsten Spanneberg (49.24) Stefan Herbst (49.34) | 3:17.18 | 4.01 |