4 × 100 m freestyle relay, men

What to remember

At the Beijing Olympics on August 11, 2008, four Americans covered the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay in 3 min 08.24 s. Michael Phelps led off in 47.51 s, Garrett Weber-Gale followed in 47.02 s, Cullen Jones swam 47.65 s, and Jason Lezak brought it home with the team's fastest leg, 46.06 s.

The swim belongs to Phelps's Games. In Beijing he won eight gold medals, beating the seven first-place finishes Mark Spitz had collected at a single Games in 1972. Over his career he gathered 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold.

The event has had a broken Olympic history: contested by men since 1964, it was dropped in 1976 and brought back in 1984. Swimming records are ratified by World Aquatics, formerly FINA, and this one was set in a long course, 50 m pool.