Australia won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay here Saturday. The Netherlands finished second while the United States claimed bronze at the Olympic Park’s Aquatics Centre. Alicia Coutts, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie and Melanie Schlanger clocked an Olympic record of 3:33.15, just holding off a Dutch team of Inge Dekker, Marleen Veldhuis, Femke Heemskerk and rising freestyle sprint star Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Kromowidjojo poured it on, but the Dutch settled for silver in 3:33.79 with the US quartet of Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt earning bronze in 3:34.24. Natalie Coughlin’s swim in the heats for the United States meant she shared that bronze, taking her career tally of Olympic medals to 12, equalling fellow swimmers Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most of any US woman Olympian.
