Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay
The women's 4×200 metre freestyle relay event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 25 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States. This event was also officially included to the women's swimming program for the first time in Olympic history.
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.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 25 July | Heat 2 | Lisa Jacob Ashley Whitney Sheila Taormina Annette Salmeen | 8:04.99 | ||
| 25 July | Final | Trina Jackson Cristina Teuscher Sheila Taormina Jenny Thompson | 7:59.87 |
Results
Heats
Rule: The eight fastest teams advance to the final.| Rank | Heat | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Lisa Jacob Ashley Whitney Sheila Taormina Annette Salmeen | 8:04.99 | Q, | |
| 2 | 3 | 4 | Simone Osygus Meike Freitag Anke Scholz Franziska van Almsick | 8:08.58 | Q | |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | Julia Greville Lise Mackie Emma Johnson Susie O'Neill | 8:09.33 | Q | |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | Eri Yamanoi Naoko Imoto Aiko Miyake Suzu Chiba | 8:09.46 | Q, NR | |
| 5 | 3 | 6 | Luminița Dobrescu Loredana Zisu Lorena Diaconescu Carla Negrea | 8:10.77 | Q, NR | |
| 6 | 2 | 5 | Joanne Malar Sophie Simard Marianne Limpert Jessica Deglau | 8:12.03 | Q | |
| 7 | 1 | 3 | Minouche Smit Patricia Stokkers Karin Brienesse Carla Geurts | 8:12.78 | Q, NR | |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | Chen Yan Pu Yiqi Wang Luna Nian Yun | 8:13.29 | Q | |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Louise Jöhncke Johanna Sjöberg Josefin Lillhage Åsa Sandlund | 8:13.64 | ||
| 10 | 2 | 6 | Claire Huddart Vicky Horner Janine Belton Karen Pickering | 8:14.92 | NR | |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | Sarah Catherwood Alison Fitch Anna Wilson Dionne Bainbridge | 8:14.98 | ||
| 12 | 3 | 2 | Tatyana Litovchenko Inna Yaitskaya Yelena Nazemnova Nadezhda Chemezova | 8:16.06 | ||
| 13 | 3 | 3 | Ditte Jensen Britta Vestergaard Britt Raaby Berit Puggaard | 8:16.32 | ||
| 14 | 1 | 6 | Marianne Le Verge Hélène Ricardo Laëtitia Choux Solenne Figuès | 8:18.90 | ||
| 15 | 3 | 1 | Hana Černá Kristýna Kyněrová Pavla Chrástová Olga Šplíchalová | 8:21.19 | NR | |
| 16 | 1 | 2 | Sandrine Paquier Dominique Diezi Nicole Zahnd Chantal Strasser | 8:21.55 | NR | |
| 17 | 1 | 7 | Sviatlana Zhidko Inga Borodich Natalya Baranovskaya Alena Popchanka | 8:21.70 | NR | |
| 18 | 2 | 1 | Jeong Eun-na Lee Bo-eun Lee Jie-hyun Seo So-yung | 8:22.90 | ||
| 19 | 2 | 7 | Tsai Shu-min Chang Wei-chia Hsieh Shu-ting Lin Chi-chan | 8:27.61 | ||
| 20 | 3 | 7 | Viktoriya Poleyayeva Olga Titova Olga Korotayeva Olga Bogatyreva | 8:45.76 | ||
| 21 | 1 | 1 | María del Pilar Pereyra Alicia Barrancos Valeria Álvarez María Bertelloti | 8:46.36 |
Final
| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| 4 | Trina Jackson Cristina Teuscher Sheila Taormina Jenny Thompson | 7:59.87 | |||
| 5 | Franziska van Almsick Kerstin Kielgaß Anke Scholz Dagmar Hase | 8:01.55 | |||
| 3 | Julia Greville Nicole Stevenson Emma Johnson Susie O'Neill | 8:05.47 | |||
| 4 | 6 | Eri Yamanoi Naoko Imoto Aiko Miyake Suzu Chiba | 8:07.46 | NR | |
| 5 | 7 | Marianne Limpert Shannon Shakespeare Andrea Schwartz Jessica Deglau | 8:08.16 | ||
| 6 | 1 | Carla Geurts Patricia Stokkers Minouche Smit Kirsten Vlieghuis | 8:08.48 | NR | |
| 7 | 2 | Luminița Dobrescu Loredana Zisu Lorena Diaconescu Carla Negrea | 8:10.02 | NR | |
| 8 | 8 | Nian Yun Wang Luna Chen Yan Shan Ying | 8:15.38 |