Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 24 to 26.<ref name="SR">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There were 54 competitors from 41 nations.<ref name=Olympedia/> The event was won by 0.22 seconds by Shawn Crawford of the United States, the nation's 17th victory in the men's 200 metres after missing the podium entirely four years prior. His teammates Bernard Williams (silver) and Justin Gatlin (bronze) completed the sixth American sweep in the event and first since 1984.

Barely turned eighteen, Usain Bolt came to the Olympics injured and was not able to compete at the level he had achieved earlier in the season. He was eliminated in the heats in his only Olympic defeat. He would eventually go on to win double gold at the Beijing Games, and triple at the London and Rio Olympics. Template:TOC limit

Background

This was the 24th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Two of the eight finalists from the 2000 Games returned: silver medalist Darren Campbell and fifth-place finisher Christian Malcolm, both of Great Britain. The 1992 and 1996 silver medalist, Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, had missed the 2000 Games due to injury but returned in 2004. Reigning Olympic champion Konstantinos Kenteris of Greece missed a drug test the day before the Games opened, resulting in his suspension.<ref name=Olympedia>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Palau, and Slovenia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 23rd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Summary

The final pool looked similar to the 100 metres final pool, with the favorites, Justin Gatlin, Francis Obikwelu and Shawn Crawford in the center of the track. Bernard Williams also was in the final, along with perennial silver medalist Frankie Fredericks. From the gun, Williams near the inside got a clearly better start, quickly making up a step on the stagger to Crawford to his outside. But through the turn, Crawford maintained the distance while running the further distance. Crawford and Gatlin ran about even last portion of the turn looked more powerful than Williams and Gatlin on either side. By the end of the turn, it was the three Americans in the lead, led by Crawford, Obikwelu the closest challenger a step behind. Crawford separated from Gatlin at the head of the straight and the race was for second. Gatlin held the edge down the straight until the last ten metres when Gatlin seemed to struggle and Williams cruised to silver. Next to last at the beginning of the straight, veteran Fredericks gained steadily and was able to dip past Obikwelu for fourth,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but not enough to break up the American sweep.

Qualification

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The Olympic qualification period for the athletics ran from 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For this event, each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter up to three athletes, provided they had run below 20.59 seconds during this period in IAAF-sanctioned meetings or tournaments. If a NOC had no athletes qualified under this standard, it could enter up to one athlete that had run below 20.75 seconds.

Competition format

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 7 heats of 7 or 8 runners each, with the top 4 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 4 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 8 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat and the next 4 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.<ref name=Olympedia/>

Records

Template:As of, the existing world, Olympic record, and world leading time were as follows:

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

The competition used a three-day schedule rather than a two-day schedule, splitting the semifinals and final into two days. The three-day schedule had previously been used in 1992, but before that had last been used in 1908.

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 24 August 2004	10:35 20:00	Round 1 Quarterfinals
Wednesday, 25 August 2004	22:50	Semifinals
Thursday, 26 August 2004	22:50	Final

Results

Heats

Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next four fastest overall runners (q) qualified.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Stéphane Buckland	Template:FlagIOC	0.185	20.29	Template:Abbr
2	2	Francis Obikwelu	Template:FlagIOC	0.243	20.40	Template:Abbr
2	2	Juan Pedro Toledo	Template:FlagIOC	0.214	20.40	Template:Abbr, NR
4	4	Yang Yaozu	Template:FlagIOC	0.217	20.59	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
5	7	Johan Wissman	Template:FlagIOC	0.245	20.60	Template:Abbr
6	1	Paul Brizzel	Template:FlagIOC	0.179	21.00
7	3	Nabie Foday Fofanah	Template:FlagIOC	0.227	21.45
—	8	Hamed Al-Bishi	Template:FlagIOC	—	Template:Abbr
				Wind: +1.5 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Shawn Crawford	Template:FlagIOC	0.272	20.55	Template:Abbr
2	8	Christopher Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.140	20.57	Template:Abbr
3	3	Marcin Urbaś	Template:FlagIOC	0.174	20.71	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
4	2	Darren Campbell	Template:FlagIOC	0.155	20.72	Template:Abbr
5	1	Jaysuma Saidy Ndure	Template:FlagIOC	0.158	20.78	Template:Abbr
6	4	Leigh Julius	Template:FlagIOC	0.164	20.80
7	6	Geronimo Goeloe	Template:FlagIOC	0.167	21.09
8	7	Basílio de Moraes Júnior	Template:FlagIOC	0.236	21.14
				Wind: +1.4 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Frankie Fredericks	Template:FlagIOC	0.235	20.54	Template:Abbr
2	3	Malik Louahla	Template:FlagIOC	0.187	20.67	Template:Abbr
3	4	David Canal	Template:FlagIOC	0.181	20.72	Template:Abbr
4	1	Brian Dzingai	Template:FlagIOC	0.184	20.72	Template:Abbr
5	7	Heber Viera	Template:FlagIOC	0.256	20.94	Template:Abbr
6	2	Oleg Sergeyev	Template:FlagIOC	0.269	20.95
7	8	Menzi Dlamini	Template:FlagIOC	0.270	21.82
—	6	Chris Lambert	Template:FlagIOC	0.244	Template:Abbr
				Wind: +2.0 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	7	Marcin Jędrusiński	Template:FlagIOC	0.256	20.63	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
2	2	Tobias Unger	Template:FlagIOC	0.160	20.65	Template:Abbr
3	6	Joseph Batangdon	Template:FlagIOC	0.239	20.92	Template:Abbr
4	8	Géza Pauer	Template:FlagIOC	0.257	21.02	Template:Abbr
5	5	Usain Bolt	Template:FlagIOC	0.254	21.05
6	1	Christian Nsiah	Template:FlagIOC	0.146	21.06
7	3	Hamoud Abdallah Al-Dalhami	Template:FlagIOC	0.152	21.82
8	4	Ryo Matsuda	Template:FlagIOC	0.223	24.59
				Wind: 0.0 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	7	Dominic Demeritte	Template:FlagIOC	0.246	20.62	Template:Abbr
2	8	Christian Malcolm	Template:FlagIOC	0.284	20.62	Template:Abbr
3	5	Panagiotis Sarris	Template:FlagIOC	0.254	20.67	Template:Abbr
4	3	Asafa Powell	Template:FlagIOC	0.207	20.77	Template:Abbr
5	2	Jiří Vojtík	Template:FlagIOC	0.179	20.79
6	4	Dion Crabbe	Template:FlagIOC	0.231	20.85
7	6	Nazmizan Mohamad	Template:FlagIOC	0.238	21.24
8	1	Adam Miller	Template:FlagIOC	0.198	21.31
				Wind: +2.2 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	2	Bernard Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.207	20.29	Template:Abbr
2	8	Anastasios Gousis	Template:FlagIOC	0.236	20.44	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
3	3	Andrew Howe	Template:FlagIOC	0.198	20.55	Template:Abbr
4	4	Matic Osovnikar	Template:FlagIOC	0.203	20.57	Template:Abbr
5	6	Till Helmke	Template:FlagIOC	0.241	20.72	Template:Abbr
6	5	Oumar Loum	Template:FlagIOC	0.240	20.97
7	7	Anninos Marcoullides	Template:FlagIOC	0.247	23.94
				Wind: +1.8 m/s

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	2	Sebastian Ernst	Template:FlagIOC	0.220	20.47	Template:Abbr, =Template:Abbr
2	8	Justin Gatlin	Template:FlagIOC	0.282	20.51	Template:Abbr
3	6	Marco Torrieri	Template:FlagIOC	0.222	20.68	Template:Abbr
4	5	Cláudio Roberto Souza	Template:FlagIOC	0.165	20.70	Template:Abbr, =Template:Abbr
5	7	Brendan Christian	Template:FlagIOC	0.251	20.71	Template:Abbr
6	4	Shinji Takahira	Template:FlagIOC	0.212	21.05
7	3	Dadaş İbrahimov	Template:FlagIOC	0.141	21.60
8	1	Russel Roman	Template:FlagIOC	0.264	24.89
				Wind: 0.0 m/s

Quarterfinals

Qualification rule: The first three finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next four fastest overall runners (q) advance to the semifinals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Shawn Crawford	Template:FlagIOC	0.207	19.95	Template:Abbr
2	5	Frankie Fredericks	Template:FlagIOC	0.228	20.20	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
3	3	Tobias Unger	Template:FlagIOC	0.162	20.30	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
4	6	Christopher Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.186	20.34	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
5	1	Johan Wissman	Template:FlagIOC	0.186	20.74
6	7	Géza Pauer	Template:FlagIOC	0.241	20.90
7	2	David Canal	Template:FlagIOC	0.179	21.18
—	8	Joseph Batangdon	Template:FlagIOC	—	Template:Abbr
				Wind: +1.1 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Bernard Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.217	20.40	Template:Abbr
2	3	Anastasios Gousis	Template:FlagIOC	0.195	20.46	Template:Abbr
3	6	Marcin Jędrusiński	Template:FlagIOC	0.194	20.55	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
4	7	Till Helmke	Template:FlagIOC	0.144	20.76
5	8	Brian Dzingai	Template:FlagIOC	0.206	20.87
6	2	Marco Torrieri	Template:FlagIOC	0.177	20.89
7	5	Malik Louahla	Template:FlagIOC	0.175	20.93
8	1	Yang Yaozu	Template:FlagIOC	0.162	21.03
				Wind: +0.2 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Justin Gatlin	Template:FlagIOC	0.220	20.03	Template:Abbr
2	8	Asafa Powell	Template:FlagIOC	0.206	20.23	Template:Abbr
3	5	Sebastian Ernst	Template:FlagIOC	0.244	20.36	Template:Abbr, Template:Abbr
4	7	Matic Osovnikar	Template:FlagIOC	0.235	20.47	Template:Abbr, NR
5	6	Christian Malcolm	Template:FlagIOC	0.259	20.56	Template:Abbr
6	3	Dominic Demeritte	Template:FlagIOC	0.141	20.61
7	2	Brendan Christian	Template:FlagIOC	0.182	20.63
—	1	Marcin Urbaś	Template:FlagIOC	0.162	Template:Abbr
				Wind: +0.5 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	Francis Obikwelu	Template:FlagIOC	0.191	20.33	Template:Abbr
2	5	Stéphane Buckland	Template:FlagIOC	0.239	20.36	Template:Abbr
3	6	Juan Pedro Toledo	Template:FlagIOC	0.276	20.43	Template:Abbr
4	2	Darren Campbell	Template:FlagIOC	0.179	20.59	Template:Abbr, =Template:Abbr
5	8	Cláudio Roberto Souza	Template:FlagIOC	0.159	20.64	Template:Abbr
6	7	Jaysuma Saidy Ndure	Template:FlagIOC	0.248	20.73
7	1	Panagiotis Sarris	Template:FlagIOC	0.184	20.92
8	4	Andrew Howe	Template:FlagIOC	0.211	21.17
				Wind: +0.1 m/s

Semifinals

Qualification rule: The first four runners in each semifinal heat (Q) moves on to the final.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Shawn Crawford	Template:FlagIOC	0.231	20.05	Template:Abbr
2	4	Bernard Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.200	20.18	Template:Abbr
3	3	Frankie Fredericks	Template:FlagIOC	0.152	20.43	Template:Abbr
4	2	Tobias Unger	Template:FlagIOC	0.173	20.54	Template:Abbr
5	5	Anastasios Gousis	Template:FlagIOC	0.205	20.68
6	7	Christopher Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.164	20.80
7	8	Marcin Jędrusiński	Template:FlagIOC	0.245	20.81
8	1	Darren Campbell	Template:FlagIOC	0.150	20.89
				Wind: −0.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Justin Gatlin	Template:FlagIOC	0.195	20.35	Template:Abbr
2	6	Francis Obikwelu	Template:FlagIOC	0.244	20.36	Template:Abbr
3	3	Stéphane Buckland	Template:FlagIOC	0.183	20.37	Template:Abbr
4	5	Asafa Powell	Template:FlagIOC	0.236	20.56	Template:Abbr
5	8	Sebastian Ernst	Template:FlagIOC	0.299	20.63
6	2	Juan Pedro Toledo	Template:FlagIOC	0.215	20.64
7	7	Christian Malcolm	Template:FlagIOC	0.239	20.77
8	1	Matic Osovnikar	Template:FlagIOC	0.197	20.89
				Wind: +0.2 m/s

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
Template:Gold01	4	Shawn Crawford	Template:FlagIOC	0.226	19.79	Template:Abbr
Template:Silver02	3	Bernard Williams	Template:FlagIOC	0.173	20.01	Template:Abbr
Template:Bronze03	5	Justin Gatlin	Template:FlagIOC	0.195	20.03
4	8	Frankie Fredericks	Template:FlagIOC	0.248	20.14	Template:Abbr
5	6	Francis Obikwelu	Template:FlagIOC	0.183	20.14
6	7	Stéphane Buckland	Template:FlagIOC	0.294	20.24
7	1	Tobias Unger	Template:FlagIOC	0.153	20.64
—	2	Asafa Powell	Template:FlagIOC	—	Template:Abbr
				Wind: +1.2 m/s<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation			CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage

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