Dutch Divas Dazzle in 4x100m Free Victory
2008-08-10
craiglord
he Dutch Divas have done it! Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhuis set an Olympic record of 3:33.76, just 0.14sec shy of their world record, to take gold in the 4x100m freestyle

 

The Dutch Divas have done it! Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhuis set an Olympic record of 3:33.76, just 0.14sec shy of their world record, to take gold in the 4x100m freestyle and deny American supermom Dara Torres a triumph to bookend an Olympic career that began with gold in the same relay in 1984.

Not that Torres has anything to be ashamed about: she clocked a split of 52.44 - to help the USA to silver in 3:34.33. Libby Trickett put in the fastest split, of 52.34, to bring Australia home to the bronze. Germany finished out of the medals but Britta Steffen set an Olympic record of 53.38 leading off and looks strong for the solo event.

The last time the Dutch stood aloft the podium was 1936, with coach Ma Braun at the helm of the squad.

 

  1. Netherlands: Inge Dekker/Ranomi Kromowidjojo/Femke Heemskerk/Marleen Veldhuis 3:33.76  Olympic record
  2. USA: Natalie Coughlin/Lacey Nymeyer/Kara Lynn Joyce/Dara Torres 3:34.33 US record
  3. Australia: Cate Campbell/Alice Mills/Melanie Schlanger/Libby Trickett 3:35.05 Australia record
  4. China: Zhu Yingwen/Tang Yi/Xu Yanwei/Pang Jiaying 3:35.64 Chinese record
  5. Germany: Britta Steffen/Meike Freitag/Daniela Goetz/Antje Buschschulte 3:36.85
  6. France: Celine Couderc/Alena Popchanka/Ophelie Cyriell Etienne/Malia Metella 3:37.68 French record
  7. Britain: Francesca Halsall/Caitlin McClatchey/Jessica Sylvester/Melanie Marshall 3:38.18 British record
  8. Canada: Julia Wilkinson/Erica Morningstar/Genevieve Saumur/Audrey Lacroix 3:38.32 Canadian record