Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 78 participating athletes from 57 nations, with eleven qualifying heats (78), five quarterfinal races (40), two semifinals (16) and a final (8).[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Michael Johnson of the United States, the nation's fourth consecutive and 16th overall victory in the event. Frankie Fredericks of Namibia won his second straight silver medal, the eighth man to win multiple medals in the 200 metres. Ato Boldon earned Trinidad and Tobago's first medal in the event with his bronze.

Men's 200 metres
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Michael Johnson (1995)
VenueCentennial Olympic Stadium
DatesJuly 31 – August 1
Competitors78 from 57 nations
Winning time19.32 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Michael Johnson
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Frank Fredericks
 Namibia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ato Boldon
 Trinidad and Tobago
← 1992
2000 →
Official Video Highlights

Background

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This was the 22nd appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Four of the eight finalists from the 1992 Games returned: gold medalist Michael Marsh of the United States, silver medalist Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, fourth-place finisher (and 1988 bronze medalist) Robson da Silva of Brazil, and sixth-place finisher John Regis of Great Britain; fifth-place finisher Olapade Adeniken of Nigeria was entered but did not start. Michael Johnson, favored to win in Barcelona before food poisoning resulted in a semifinal exit, also returned.[2]

By the summer of 1996, Pietro Mennea's world record of 19.72 had stood for almost 17 years. Carl Lewis (19.75 in 1983), and Marsh (19.73 in 1992) had come tantalizingly close to it, but eased up. Finally at the Olympic Trials, Johnson knocked .06 off the record. In Atlanta, Johnson (the 1995 World Champion) was the clear favorite and was attempting an unprecedented men's 200/400 double. (Two women had done the double; Valerie Brisco-Hooks in 1984 and Marie-José Pérec just completed her double less than ten minutes before the men's 200 metres final). Johnson occupied the same lane 3 as Pérec had just run in. But, just as in 1992, Fredericks (the 1993 World Champion) had snapped a Johnson winning streak shortly before the Games and could not be disregarded as a challenger.[2]

Aruba, Comoros, Gabon, Guam, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 21st appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Summary

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From the gun, Johnson took the lead, quickly making up the stagger on Ivan Garcia to his outside halfway through the turn. Coming on to the straight, Johnson led by a metre from Frankie Fredericks and Ato Boldon, with Jeff Williams fourth. Johnson continued to pull away to the finish and won by over three metres from Fredericks, with Boldon a further metre back. Obadele Thompson closed with a strong straight to edge past Williams at the line another three metres behind Boldon. Three strides past the finish line, while others were still finishing, Johnson looked back to see the clock had stopped at 19.32 and began celebrating. His time was a Beamonesque 0.40 of a second faster than the world record had been just five weeks earlier, 0.34 seconds faster than that performance. Far behind him, Fredericks had run 19.68, superior to the 1979 record and Boldon had run 19.80. At that point in time, Fredericks was #2 and Boldon was #7 performer of all time.

Competition format

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The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1960 was used in the heats and quarterfinals.

There were 11 heats of 7 or 8 runners each, with the top 3 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 7 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 5 heats of 8 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat and the next fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 8 runners. The top 4 athletes in each semifinal advanced. The final had 8 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.[2]

Records

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These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

World record   Michael Johnson (USA) 19.66 Atlanta, United States 23 June 1996
Olympic record   Michael Marsh (USA) 19.73 Barcelona, Spain 5 August 1992

In the final, Michael Johnson set a new world record with a time of 19.32.

Schedule

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All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

The competition returned to a two-day schedule after one Games with three days; now, however, there was no rest day between the two competition days.

Date Time Round
Wednesday, 31 July 1996 10:45
18:15
Heats
Quarterfinals
Thursday, 1 August 1996 19:10
21:00
Semifinals
Final

Results

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Heats

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Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michael Marsh   United States 20.27 Q
2 Sergejs Inšakovs   Latvia 20.41 Q
3 Troy Douglas   Bermuda 20.41 Q
4 Steve Brimacombe   Australia 20.45 q
5 Alfred Visagie   South Africa 21.10
6 Mohamed Al-Houti   Oman 21.10
7 Takahiro Mazuka   Japan 21.13

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ivan Garcia   Cuba 20.49 Q
2 Albert Agyemang   Ghana 20.69 Q
3 Elston Cawley   Jamaica 20.73 Q
4 Owusu Dako   Great Britain 20.83
5 Thomas Sbokos   Greece 20.88
6 Anton Ivanov   Bulgaria 21.20
7 David Wilson   Guam 21.85
8 Mohamed Ould Brahim   Mauritania 22.71

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ato Boldon   Trinidad and Tobago 20.26 Q
2 Obadele Thompson   Barbados 20.42 Q
3 Anninos Markoullides   Cyprus 20.57 Q
4 Carlos Gats   Argentina 20.82 q
5 Joseph Gikonyo   Kenya 20.88
6 Chris Donaldson   New Zealand 20.96
7 Tao Wu-shiun   Chinese Taipei 21.25

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michael Johnson   United States 20.55 Q
2 Erik Wymeersch   Belgium 20.68 Q
3 Percival Spencer   Jamaica 20.73 Q
4 Frank Waota   Ivory Coast 20.78 q
5 Benjamin Sirimou   Cameroon 21.00
6 Antoine Boussombo   Gabon 21.06
Venancio Jose   Spain DNS

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Francis Obikwelu   Nigeria 20.62 Q
2 Edson Ribeiro   Brazil 20.69 Q
3 John Regis   Great Britain 20.78 Q
4 Pierre Lisk   Sierra Leone 20.86
5 Lars Hedner   Sweden 20.97
6 Thomas Griesser   Austria 21.20
7 Pascal Dangbo   Benin 21.65
8 Hadhari Djaffar   Comoros 22.68

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Patrick Stevens   Belgium 20.60 Q
2 Jordi Mayoral   Spain 20.65 Q
3 Claudinei da Silva   Brazil 20.80 Q
4 Joseph Loua   Guinea 20.81 q
5 Boevi Lawson   Togo 20.99
6 Anderson Vilien   Haiti 21.62
7 Peter Ogilvie   Canada 22.00
8 Gustavo Envela   Equatorial Guinea 22.09

Heat 7

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Linford Christie   Great Britain 20.64 Q
2 Robert Maćkowiak   Poland 20.67 Q
3 George Panayiotopoulos   Greece 20.69 Q
4 Geir Moen   Norway 20.78 q
5 O'Brian Gibbons   Canada 20.79 q
6 Andrey Fedoriv   Russia 20.95
7 Brahim Abdoulaye   Chad 21.67

Heat 8

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Neil De Silva   Trinidad and Tobago 20.54 Q
2 Robson Da Silva   Brazil 20.61 Q
3 Oumar Loum   Senegal 20.69 Q
4 Dean Capobianco   Australia 20.76 q
5 Matthew Coad   New Zealand 21.25
6 Amos Ali   Papua New Guinea 21.37
7 Laurence Jack   Vanuatu 21.94
Olapade Adeniken   Nigeria DNS

Heat 9

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Jeff Williams   United States 20.37 Q
2 Vladyslav Dolohodin   Ukraine 20.57 Q
3 Francisco Navarro   Spain 20.87 Q
4 Alain Reimann   Switzerland 20.99
5 Ousmane Diarra   Mali 21.20
6 Mohamed Al-Aswad   United Arab Emirates 21.77
Ibrahim Ismail Muftah   Qatar DNS

Heat 10

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Koji Ito   Japan 20.56 Q
2 Torbjorn Eriksson   Sweden 20.77 Q
3 Emmanuel Tuffour   Ghana 20.85 Q
4 Mark Keddell   New Zealand 20.93
5 Justice Dipeba   Botswana 21.09
6 Carlton Chambers   Canada 21.32
7 Miguel Janssen   Aruba 21.72

Heat 11

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Frank Fredericks   Namibia 20.59 Q
2 Seun Ogunkoya   Nigeria 20.78 Q
3 Gary Ryan   Ireland 20.78 Q
4 Sebastian Keitel   Chile 20.96
5 Christoph Pöstinger   Austria 20.98
6 Sandro Floris   Italy 21.01
7 Chen Wenzhong   China 21.05

Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Frank Fredericks   Namibia 20.38 Q
2 Jeff Williams   United States 20.47 Q
3 Obadele Thompson   Barbados 20.53 Q
4 Erik Wymeersch   Belgium 20.59
5 Percival Spencer   Jamaica 20.59
6 Troy Douglas   Bermuda 20.63
7 Francisco Navarro   Spain 21.06
O'Brian Gibbons   Canada DNS

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michael Johnson   United States 20.37 Q
2 Geir Moen   Norway 20.48 Q
3 Neil De Silva   Trinidad and Tobago 20.62 Q
4 Robson Da Silva   Brazil 20.65
5 Jordi Mayoral   Spain 20.68
6 George Panayiotopoulos   Greece 20.86
7 Dean Capobianco   Australia 21.03
8 Oumar Loum   Senegal 21.31

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ivan Garcia   Cuba 20.36 Q
2 Koji Ito   Japan 20.47 Q
3 Steve Brimacombe   Australia 20.53 Q
4 Robert Maćkowiak   Poland 20.61
5 Anninos Markoullides   Cyprus 20.63
6 Vladyslav Dolohodin   Ukraine 20.65
7 Elston Cawley   Jamaica 20.75
8 Frank Waota   Ivory Coast 21.14

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michael Marsh   United States 20.39 Q
2 Patrick Stevens   Belgium 20.43 Q
3 John Regis   Great Britain 20.56 Q
4 Sergejs Inšakovs   Latvia 20.58 q
5 Albert Agyemang   Ghana 20.87
6 Seun Ogunkoya   Nigeria 21.00
7 Joseph Loua   Guinea 21.01
Claudinei da Silva   Brazil DNF

Quarterfinal 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ato Boldon   Trinidad and Tobago 20.25 Q
2 Francis Obikwelu   Nigeria 20.49 Q
3 Emmanuel Tuffour   Ghana 20.49 Q
4 Linford Christie   Great Britain 20.59
5 Edson Ribeiro   Brazil 20.60
6 Torbjorn Eriksson   Sweden 20.83
7 Carlos Gats   Argentina 20.84
8 Gary Ryan   Ireland 20.89

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Michael Johnson   United States 20.27 Q
2 Ivan Garcia   Cuba 20.34 Q
3 Jeff Williams   United States 20.39 Q
4 Patrick Stevens   Belgium 20.46 Q
5 Francis Obikwelu   Nigeria 20.56
6 John Regis   Great Britain 20.58
7 Emmanuel Tuffour   Ghana 20.61
8 Neil De Silva   Trinidad and Tobago 21.26

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Frank Fredericks   Namibia 19.98 Q
2 Ato Boldon   Trinidad and Tobago 20.05 Q
3 Michael Marsh   United States 20.26 Q
4 Obadele Thompson   Barbados 20.32 Q
5 Steve Brimacombe   Australia 20.38
6 Koji Ito   Japan 20.45
7 Sergejs Inšakovs   Latvia 20.48
8 Geir Moen   Norway 20.96

Final

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Held on August 1, 1996.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Michael Johnson   United States 19.32 WR
  Frank Fredericks   Namibia 19.68 AR
  Ato Boldon   Trinidad and Tobago 19.80
4 Obadele Thompson   Barbados 20.14
5 Jeff Williams   United States 20.17
6 Ivan Garcia   Cuba 20.21
7 Patrick Stevens   Belgium 20.27
8 Michael Marsh   United States 20.48

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1996 Atlanta Games: Men's 200 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "200 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
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