Swimming - Team Great Britain

General
Great Britain won the first Olympic men's 4x200m freestyle relay gold medal on offer, in 1908 in London, and have competed in the event at a record 25 Olympic Games, which is one more than the US team. Great Britain also won bronze medals in 1912 in Stockholm and 1920 in Antwerp, but found it more difficult to finish on the podium in the years that followed. Despite a consistent record of making finals they only managed to claim another two bronze medals throughout the 20th century, at the 1976 and 1984 Games. The trend continued into the 21st century, but finally ended at the 2016 Games in Rio when they set the fastest time in the heats and went on to swim a national record in the final to claim silver behind the dominant US team.

Great Britain's Olympic silver in Rio was not a complete surprise, however, as the British had upset the US team a year earlier at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, claiming their first world title in the event and ending the US team's run of five consecutive world titles. The British team continued the trend at the 2017 edition, setting another national record on their way to a second world title, this time ahead of the Russian team. However, they could not make it three in a row at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju as they fell to fifth in a tight race, with only 0.23s separating the teams in second through to fifth place.