Two Stanford swimmers earned Stanford’s first medals of the 2008 Olympic Games with their efforts in the preliminary rounds of the men’s and women’s 4 x 100-meter freestyle relays, raising Stanford’s all-time Olympic medal count to 199. Although neither swam in the final, Ben Wildman-Tobriner ‘07 is now a gold medalist while junior Julia Smit earned a silver.

Late last night, however, the Cardinal made it to the 200-medal mark with Smit’s bronze medal as a reserve on the women’s 4 x 200-meter relay team.

Wildman-Tobriner was part of a U.S. team that set a world record with a time of 3:12.23 in the preliminary heat of the 4 x 100-meter free relay, turning in an impressive mark of 48.03 seconds in his leg. The event finals proved to be the most intense swimming race of the Beijing Games thus far, with the United States’ Jason Lezak coming from behind in the final 50 meters to beat France to the wall and earn gold. The U.S. foursome set a world record for the second time in one day, completing the race in a phenomenal 3:08.24.

Smit, on the other hand, helped America qualify for third in the finals of the 4 x 100-meter free relay, swimming a key leg in the preliminary heat. The U.S. squad that swam the finals finished in an American-record time of 3:34.33 to earn the silver medal, following the Netherlands by a slim .57 seconds.