The only real decision for the US swim coaches was who they would select to lead the Americans to the gold medal in the final. The US qualified second in the heats, behind Australia, but that was with their junior varsity squad allowing the big guns to rest. In the final the race was over after one leg, as 100 fly gold medalist Sharon Stouder put the US into an insurmountable lead. She was followed by Donna de Varona, Pokey Watson, and Kathy Ellis, who swam anchor and finished in the time of 4:03.8 for a world record, bettering the time of 4:07.6 that had been set in September by another group of Americans. Australia finished second, anchored by Dawn Fraser, who had the fastest split of the race with 58.6, but they were too far behind for it to matter much. The Netherlands came on for the bronze medal, as anchor Erica Terpstra touched out the Hungarian finisher Csilla Madarasz-Bajnogel-Dobai.
World Rekord: United States (Terri Stickles, Kathy Seidel, Eleanor Bricker, Lynne Allsup) 4:07.6Los Angeles, United States 28th September 1964
Olympic Rekord: United States (Joan Spillane 1:02.5, Shirley Stobs 1:03.5, Carolyn Wood 1:02.0, Chris von Saltza 1:00.9) 4:08.9 Rome, Italy 3rd September 1960