Jodie Henry has anchored the Australian women's 4x100m freestyle relay to a world record and a gold medal at the Athens Olympics on Saturday night.

Henry overhauled eight-times American Olympic gold medallist Jenny Thompson to record the fastest relay split by a woman in history.

The 20-year-old powered to the wall in 52.95s to set herself up for a shot at the individual 100m freestyle gold medal on Thursday.

"I had no idea where Jenny was. I was just going for it," said Henry, heralding a new generation of women's sprinters.

"It's just great to know that I helped my team get home."

She joined Alice Mills, Libby Lenton and Petria Thomas to register a world record 3 minutes 35.94 seconds - taking 0.06s off the two-year-old mark (3:36) set by the German team in 2002.

Their victory gave Australia its second gold medal on the opening night of swimming at the Athens Games after Ian Thorpe's emotional win over Grant Hackett in the 400m freestyle.

They're the first women's relay team to win Olympic gold for Australia since the 1956 Melbourne Games.

The team has been searching for a catchy nickname to rival the Oarsome Foursome and the Mean Machine.

Suggestions have included the Slick Chicks, the Speed Queens and the Flying Fillies.

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