The men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 15 and 17 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. Since the event's inception in 1960, the U.S. men's team dominated the race from the start to demolish a new world record, to defend their title, and most importantly, to wrap up the greatest performance in Olympic history for Michael Phelps. Joining Aaron Peirsol (53.16), Brendan Hansen (59.37), and Jason Lezak (46.76), Phelps delivered a butterfly split of 50.15 to maintain a leading pace and claim a historic gold for the Americans with a world-record time of 3:29.34, shaving 1.34 seconds off their standard from Athens in 2004. By capturing his eighth gold, Phelps also eclipsed Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven for the most in a si