Kylie's Story
At Beijing in 2008 the team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda MacKenzie won Australia’s first gold medal in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. Australia had qualified for the final with the sixth fastest time, but the heat swimmers of Felicity Galvez, Angie Bainbridge, Melanie Schlanger and Lara Davenport were replaced by a new quartet.
The result was still seen as somewhat of a surprise, with the highly fancied Americans finishing third behind Australia and China. The winning time of 7:44.31 shattered the old world record, held by the United States, by almost six seconds. The first four teams, with Italy in fourth place, swam inside the pre-race world record.
Having won the 2012 National titles in the 400m and 800m freestyle and placing 2nd in the 200m freestyle, Palmer set herself up for a busy program at the London 2012 Games. She missed the final for the 400m freestyle before going on to finish 8th in the final of the 200m final that compatriot Bronte Barratt won bronze in.
Palmer went on to team up with Barratt, Melanie Schlanger and Alicia Coutts in the 4x200m freestyle relay. The Australians stuck with the USA throughout but eventually finished with silver in a time of 7:44.41, 1.49 seconds behind the USA who also set a new Olympic record.
The Queenslanders finished 4th in her heat of the 800m freestyle and did not make the final.
