After the individual 100m had been decided it seemed logical that the medals would be decided between four teams, Denmark, the USA, the Netherlands and Sweden. With a rejuvenated Greta Andersen included in their line-up, the Danes found themselves battling the Dutch for the gold medal as the last leg swimmers got under way. The United States and Great Britain trailed and appeared to be fighting only for the bronze but the last American swimmer was Ann Curtis. Curtis soon moved away from her British rival and began to make headway on the leaders. With just 15 metres to go she overtook the Dutch swimmer and with the crowd cheering wildly edged ever closer to Fritze Carstensen of Denmark. With a desperate final sprint Curtis touched the wall ahead of the Dane to break the Olympic record and clinch the championship. Curtis's time of 1:04.4 was the fastest ever recorded though it could not be ratified as a world record because only the first leg of a relay is allowed to stand for record purposes
World Record: Denmark (Eva Arndt, Gunvor Kraft, Brite Ove Pedersen, Ragnhild Hveger) 4:27.6 Kopenhagen, Denmark 7th August 1938
Olympic Record: Netherlands (Jopie Selbach, Tini Wagner, Willy den Ouden, Hendrika Mastenbriek) 4:36.0 Berlin, Germany 14th August 1936