The coach of Australia's Olympic swimming team says today's win in the women's 4x200-metres freestyle relay at the Water Cube in Beijing was a "jigsaw puzzle" that fell into place. The team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda Mackenzie blew away the previous record by 5.78 seconds in a time of 7.44.31.
Coach Alan Thompson says the Australian team's strategy paid off.
"Our plan that we had from the trials onwards was that we would use four swimmers last night and four fresh swimmers this morning," Thompson said.
"It's a real jigsaw puzzle that you've got to try to get right.
"We just had to make some decisions on who we thought was going to give us the best lead, the best strategies to put everyone together.
"In the end it's probably a little bit of tactics, a little bit of foresight and a little bit of hope and the girls certainly put it all together today."
It was the efforts of Felicity Galvez, Angie Bainbridge, Melanie Schlanger and Lara Davenport that booked Australia a place in the final, with the four preliminary finalists swimming a time of 7:55.10.
The win is the third gold at the Olympics for Rice, who also scored wins in the 400m and 200m individual medleys.
"I definitely didn't expect the results I've gotten from these Olympics," she said. "It really still hasn't sunken in for me yet.
"But to finish with the relay and being a part of the Australian team was such a great experience for me.
It was also a memorable result for Mackenzie who brought the team home on the final leg.
She was part of the Australian relay team disqualifed at the World Championships in 2001 after they jumped in the pool to celebrate their winning performance.
"Just being part of the team is something to be proud of," Mackenzie said.
"In 2001 we had such a good team, but it was just unfortunate that we got disqualified.
"We've worked hard since then for seven years now and got our relay change-overs and training happening.
"We've got a good group of girls here that did the job here this morning."
Barratt says the highlight was watching her team-mate bring home the final leg.
"I haven't seen the replays of my face yet," she said.
"But I'm pretty sure my expression would have said it all."
"(I'm) just so honoured to be a part of this team and to share it with three other amazing girls."
The team's fastest swimmer was Palmer - better known as a middle distance racer.
She is lining up in the heats of the 800m at the Water Cube this evening.
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