With this win, United States becomes the most successful nation in this event in the history of the championships, with five titles (1978, 1991, 1998, 2003 and 2013).

World Record: Netherlands, 3:31.72 – July 26, 2009 in Rome (ITA)
Championships Record: Netherlands, 3:31.72 – July 26, 2009 in Rome (ITA)
2003-2011 winners in this event: 2003 – United States (3:38.09); 2005 – Australia (3:37.32); 2007 – Australia (3:35.48); 2009 – Netherlands (3:31.72); 2011 – Netherlands (3:36.05)
The best in this event (1. most victories or 2. fastest time): United States (1978, 1991, 1998, 2003 & 2013)
2012 Olympic podium: 1. Australia (3:33.15), 2. Netherlands (3:33.79), 3. United States (3:34.24)

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QUOTES:

Gold medal team: USA

Natalie Coughlin: "Megan [Romano] swam insanely fast [52.60], I knew we could rely on her, she's been so good on the anchor the last three times she swam that for the US team. Shannon [Vreeland] has been wonderful too and this is the very first time for the US team that we had four very good splits. We broke the American record tonight, it's such an honour to be part of this team."

"It feels so good to be back in Barcelona and be successful here, I had one of the toughest meets in my life here 10 years ago. I had the worst fever ever, so to win tonight feels like it's redemption. It's crazy how much I remember from that meet, I'm 30 now I was 20 then, it's great to be back and enjoy the meet." "We know our opponents are always going to be tough so we'll never rest on our laurels and we're always going to fight."

Silver medal team: Australia

Emma McKeon: "It's nice to get the first swim out of the way, very few people in the world get to experience that so it's nice and it sets you well for the rest of the meet."

Cate Campbell, on winning with sister Bronte: "We've been dreaming about this since we both discovered that we could swim, I couldn't have asked for anything more, we did a fantastic job tonight."

Bronze medal team: Netherlands

Inge Dekker: "Our strategy was to put our stronger swimmers at the end and it seems it worked because we won the bronze medal."