Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay
# Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay

The men's 4 × 100 meter medley relay took place on 20–21 August at the Olympic Aquatic Centre of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece.

The U.S. team added two new world records to the books in the final men's event of the Olympic swimming program. Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, and Jason Lezak lowered their time set at the 2003 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, stopping the clock in 3:30.68. At the opening of the race, Peirsol led off a backstroke leg with a new world record of 53.45, beating a 0.15-second mark set by Lenny Krayzelburg (53.60) from the Pan Pacific Championships in 1999.

Meanwhile, the Germans earned a silver medal in a European record of 3:33.62, 11-hundredths of a second under the old Olympic record set by Team USA in 2000. Japan finished third in 3:35.22 to hold off the strong Russian team anchored by double Olympic champion Alexander Popov, who made up more than 1.5 seconds, but fell short of a medal in his last Olympic final.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

| World record | United States (USA) Aaron Peirsol (53.71) Brendan Hansen (59.61) Ian Crocker (50.39) Jason Lezak (47.83) | 3:31.54 | Barcelona, Spain | 27 July 2003 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Olympic record | United States (USA) Lenny Krayzelburg (53.87) Ed Moses (59.84) Ian Crocker (52.10) Gary Hall Jr. (47.92) | 3:33.73 | Sydney, Australia | 23 September 2000 |

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| August 21 | Final | Aaron Peirsol (53.45) Brendan Hansen (59.37) Ian Crocker (50.28) Jason Lezak (47.58) | United States | 3:30.68 | WR |

## Results

### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | United States | Lenny Krayzelburg (54.27) Mark Gangloff (1:00.27) Michael Phelps (52.43) Neil Walker (48.13) | 3:35.10 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 8 | Germany | Steffen Driesen (54.75) Jens Kruppa (1:00.80) Helge Meeuw (52.73) Lars Conrad (48.37) | 3:36.65 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | Great Britain | Gregor Tait (55.36) James Gibson (1:00.30) James Hickman (52.23) Matthew Kidd (49.05) | 3:36.94 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Japan | Tomomi Morita (54.63) Kosuke Kitajima (59.69) Takashi Yamamoto (52.66) Yoshihiro Okumura (50.06) | 3:37.04 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | 6 | Hungary | László Cseh (55.22) Richárd Bodor (1:00.31) Zsolt Gáspár (52.96) Attila Zubor (48.78) | 3:37.27 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | France | Simon Dufour (55.69) Hugues Duboscq (1:00.10) Franck Esposito (52.52) Frédérick Bousquet (49.29) | 3:37.60 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 4 | Russia | Arkady Vyatchanin (55.47) Roman Sloudnov (1:01.22) Yevgeny Korotyshkin (52.35) Andrey Kapralov (49.03) | 3:38.07 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 3 | Ukraine | Pavlo Illichov (56.40) Valeriy Dymo (1:01.23) Denys Sylantyev (52.41) Yuriy Yegoshin (48.81) | 3:38.85 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 5 | Australia | Matt Welsh (55.36) Jim Piper (1:02.10) Adam Pine (53.02) Michael Klim (48.66) | 3:39.14 | |
| 10 | 1 | 6 | Canada | Riley Janes (56.17) Mike Brown (1:01.73) Mike Mintenko (52.48) Brent Hayden (48.98) | 3:39.36 | |
| 11 | 1 | 2 | Finland | Jani Sievinen (56.84) Jarno Pihlava (1:01.39) Jere Hård (53.19) Matti Rajakylä (50.22) | 3:41.64 | |
| 12 | 2 | 1 | New Zealand | Scott Talbot-Cameron (56.11) Ben Labowitch (1:03.88) Corney Swanepoel (52.41) Cameron Gibson (50.34) | 3:42.74 | |
| 13 | 2 | 7 | South Africa | Gerhard Zandberg (56.23) Terence Parkin (1:03.89) Eugene Botes (54.57) Karl Otto Thaning (49.25) | 3:43.94 | |
| 14 | 1 | 7 | Slovenia | Blaž Medvešek (56.47) Emil Tahirovič (1:02.52) Peter Mankoč (53.75) Jernej Godec (51.43) | 3:44.17 | |
| 15 | 1 | 1 | Brazil | Paulo Machado (57.33) Eduardo Fischer (1:02.58) Kaio de Almeida (53.52) Jader Souza (50.98) | 3:44.41 | |
| | 1 | 8 | Italy | Emanuele Merisi (56.55) Paolo Bossini Mattia Nalesso Giacomo Vassanelli | DSQ | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Time behind | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | 4 | United States | Aaron Peirsol (53.45) WR Brendan Hansen (59.37) Ian Crocker (50.28) Jason Lezak (47.58) | 3:30.68 | | WR |
| | 5 | Germany | Steffen Driesen (54.26) Jens Kruppa (1:00.50) Thomas Rupprath (51.40) Lars Conrad (47.46) | 3:33.62 | 2.94 | EU |
| | 6 | Japan | Tomomi Morita (54.25) AS Kosuke Kitajima (59.35) Takashi Yamamoto (51.87) Yoshihiro Okumura (49.75) | 3:35.22 | 4.54 | AS |
| 4 | 1 | Russia | Arkady Vyatchanin (55.15) Roman Sloudnov (1:01.00) Igor Marchenko (51.74) Alexander Popov (48.02) | 3:35.91 | 5.23 | |
| 5 | 7 | France | Simon Dufour (55.74) Hugues Duboscq (1:00.07) Franck Esposito (52.22) Frédérick Bousquet (48.54) | 3:36.57 | 5.89 | |
| 6 | 8 | Ukraine | Pavlo Illichov (56.19) Oleg Lisogor (1:00.99) Andriy Serdinov (50.80) Yuriy Yegoshin (48.89) | 3:36.87 | 6.19 | |
| 7 | 2 | Hungary | László Cseh (54.89) Richárd Bodor (1:00.25) Zsolt Gáspár (53.32) Attila Zubor (49.00) | 3:37.46 | 6.78 | |
| 8 | 3 | Great Britain | Gregor Tait (55.69) James Gibson (1:00.30) James Hickman (52.64) Matthew Kidd (49.14) | 3:37.77 | 7.09 | |
