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. There were 54 competitors from 41 nations.
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, but not enough to break up the American sweep.
Qualification
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.
Heat 1
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 6 ||align="left"| Stéphane Buckland ||align="left"|
||0.185 || 20.29 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 2 ||align="left"| Francis Obikwelu ||align="left"|
||0.243 || 20.40 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 2 ||align="left"| Juan Pedro Toledo ||align="left"|
||0.214 || 20.40 || , NR
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 4 ||align="left"| Yang Yaozu ||align="left"|
||0.217 || 20.59 || ,
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 5 || 7 ||align="left"| Johan Wissman ||align="left"|
||0.245 || 20.60 ||
|-
| 6 || 1 ||align="left"| Paul Brizzel ||align="left"|
||0.179 || 21.00 ||
|-
| 7 || 3 ||align="left"| Nabie Foday Fofanah ||align="left"|
||0.227 || 21.45 ||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — || 8 ||align="left"| Hamed Al-Bishi ||align="left"|
|data-sort-value=1.000| — ||data-sort-value=99.99| ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +1.5 m/s
|}
Heat 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 5 ||align="left"| Shawn Crawford ||align="left"|
||0.272 || 20.55 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 8 ||align="left"| Christopher Williams ||align="left"|
||0.140 || 20.57 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 3 ||align="left"| Marcin Urbaś ||align="left"|
||0.174 || 20.71 || ,
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 2 ||align="left"| Darren Campbell ||align="left"|
||0.155 || 20.72 ||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 5 || 1 ||align="left"| Jaysuma Saidy Ndure ||align="left"|
||0.158 || 20.78 ||
|-
| 6 || 4 ||align="left"| Leigh Julius ||align="left"|
||0.164 || 20.80 ||
|-
| 7 || 6 ||align="left"| Geronimo Goeloe ||align="left"|
||0.167 || 21.09 ||
|-
| 8 || 7 ||align="left"| Basílio de Moraes Júnior ||align="left"|
||0.236 || 21.14 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +1.4 m/s
|}
Heat 3
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 5 ||align="left"| Frankie Fredericks ||align="left"|
||0.235 || 20.54 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 3 ||align="left"| Malik Louahla ||align="left"|
||0.187 || 20.67 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 4 ||align="left"| David Canal ||align="left"|
||0.181 || 20.72 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 1 ||align="left"| Brian Dzingai ||align="left"|
||0.184 || 20.72 ||
|-
| 5 || 7 ||align="left"| Heber Viera ||align="left"|
||0.256 || 20.94 ||
|-
| 6 || 2 ||align="left"| Oleg Sergeyev ||align="left"|
||0.269 || 20.95 ||
|-
| 7 || 8 ||align="left"| Menzi Dlamini ||align="left"|
||0.270 || 21.82 ||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — || 6 ||align="left"| Chris Lambert ||align="left"|
||0.244 ||data-sort-value=99.99| ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +2.0 m/s
|}
Heat 4
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 7 ||align="left"| Marcin Jędrusiński ||align="left"|
||0.256 || 20.63 || ,
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 2 ||align="left"| Tobias Unger ||align="left"|
||0.160 || 20.65 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 6 ||align="left"| Joseph Batangdon ||align="left"|
||0.239 || 20.92 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 8 ||align="left"| Géza Pauer ||align="left"|
||0.257 || 21.02 ||
|-
| 5 || 5 ||align="left"| Usain Bolt ||align="left"|
||0.254 || 21.05 ||
|-
| 6 || 1 ||align="left"| Christian Nsiah ||align="left"|
||0.146 || 21.06 ||
|-
| 7 || 3 ||align="left"| Hamoud Abdallah Al-Dalhami ||align="left"|
||0.152 || 21.82 ||
|-
| 8 || 4 ||align="left"| Ryo Matsuda ||align="left"|
||0.223 || 24.59 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: 0.0 m/s
|}
Heat 5
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 7 ||align="left"| Dominic Demeritte ||align="left"|
||0.246 || 20.62 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 8 ||align="left"| Christian Malcolm ||align="left"|
||0.284 || 20.62 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 5 ||align="left"| Panagiotis Sarris ||align="left"|
||0.254 || 20.67 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 3 ||align="left"| Asafa Powell ||align="left"|
||0.207 || 20.77 ||
|-
| 5 || 2 ||align="left"| Jiří Vojtík ||align="left"|
||0.179 || 20.79 ||
|-
| 6 || 4 ||align="left"| Dion Crabbe ||align="left"|
||0.231 || 20.85 ||
|-
| 7 || 6 ||align="left"| Nazmizan Mohamad ||align="left"|
||0.238 || 21.24 ||
|-
| 8 || 1 ||align="left"| Adam Miller ||align="left"|
||0.198 || 21.31 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +2.2 m/s
|}
Heat 6
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 2 ||align="left"| Bernard Williams ||align="left"|
||0.207 || 20.29 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 8 ||align="left"| Anastasios Gousis ||align="left"|
||0.236 || 20.44 || ,
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 3 ||align="left"| Andrew Howe ||align="left"|
||0.198 || 20.55 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 4 ||align="left"| Matic Osovnikar ||align="left"|
||0.203 || 20.57 ||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 5 || 6 ||align="left"| Till Helmke ||align="left"|
||0.241 || 20.72 ||
|-
| 6 || 5 ||align="left"| Oumar Loum ||align="left"|
||0.240 || 20.97 ||
|-
| 7 || 7 ||align="left"| Anninos Marcoullides ||align="left"|
||0.247 || 23.94 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +1.8 m/s
|}
Heat 7
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 2 ||align="left"| Sebastian Ernst ||align="left"|
||0.220 || 20.47 || , =
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 8 ||align="left"| Justin Gatlin ||align="left"|
||0.282 || 20.51 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 6 ||align="left"| Marco Torrieri ||align="left"|
||0.222 || 20.68 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 4 || 5 ||align="left"| Cláudio Roberto Souza ||align="left"|
||0.165 || 20.70 || , =
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 5 || 7 ||align="left"| Brendan Christian ||align="left"|
||0.251 || 20.71 ||
|-
| 6 || 4 ||align="left"| Shinji Takahira ||align="left"|
||0.212 || 21.05 ||
|-
| 7 || 3 ||align="left"| Dadaş İbrahimov ||align="left"|
||0.141 || 21.60 ||
|-
| 8 || 1 ||align="left"| Russel Roman ||align="left"|
||0.264 || 24.89 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| 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.
Quarterfinal 1
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 4 ||align="left"| Shawn Crawford ||align="left"|
||0.207 || 19.95 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 5 ||align="left"| Frankie Fredericks ||align="left"|
||0.228 || 20.20 || ,
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 3 ||align="left"| Tobias Unger ||align="left"|
||0.162 || 20.30 || ,
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 4 || 6 ||align="left"| Christopher Williams ||align="left"|
||0.186 || 20.34 || ,
|-
| 5 || 1 ||align="left"| Johan Wissman ||align="left"|
||0.186 || 20.74 ||
|-
| 6 || 7 ||align="left"| Géza Pauer ||align="left"|
||0.241 || 20.90 ||
|-
| 7 || 2 ||align="left"| David Canal ||align="left"|
||0.179 || 21.18 ||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — || 8 ||align="left"| Joseph Batangdon ||align="left"|
|data-sort-value=1.000| — ||data-sort-value=99.99| ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +1.1 m/s
|}
Quarterfinal 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 4 ||align="left"| Bernard Williams ||align="left"|
||0.217 || 20.40 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 3 ||align="left"| Anastasios Gousis ||align="left"|
||0.195 || 20.46 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 6 ||align="left"| Marcin Jędrusiński ||align="left"|
||0.194 || 20.55 || ,
|-
| 4 || 7 ||align="left"| Till Helmke ||align="left"|
||0.144 || 20.76 ||
|-
| 5 || 8 ||align="left"| Brian Dzingai ||align="left"|
||0.206 || 20.87 ||
|-
| 6 || 2 ||align="left"| Marco Torrieri ||align="left"|
||0.177 || 20.89 ||
|-
| 7 || 5 ||align="left"| Malik Louahla ||align="left"|
||0.175 || 20.93 ||
|-
| 8 || 1 ||align="left"| Yang Yaozu ||align="left"|
|| 0.162 || 21.03 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +0.2 m/s
|}
Quarterfinal 3
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 4 ||align="left"| Justin Gatlin ||align="left"|
||0.220 || 20.03 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 8 ||align="left"| Asafa Powell ||align="left"|
||0.206 || 20.23 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 5 ||align="left"| Sebastian Ernst ||align="left"|
||0.244 || 20.36 || ,
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 4 || 7 ||align="left"| Matic Osovnikar ||align="left"|
||0.235 || 20.47 || , NR
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 5 || 6 ||align="left"| Christian Malcolm ||align="left"|
||0.259 || 20.56 ||
|-
| 6 || 3 ||align="left"| Dominic Demeritte ||align="left"|
||0.141 || 20.61 ||
|-
| 7 || 2 ||align="left"| Brendan Christian ||align="left"|
||0.182 || 20.63 ||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — || 1 ||align="left"| Marcin Urbaś ||align="left"|
|| 0.162 ||data-sort-value=99.99| ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +0.5 m/s
|}
Quarterfinal 4
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 1 || 3 ||align="left"| Francis Obikwelu ||align="left"|
||0.191 || 20.33 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 2 || 5 ||align="left"| Stéphane Buckland ||align="left"|
||0.239 || 20.36 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
| 3 || 6 ||align="left"| Juan Pedro Toledo ||align="left"|
||0.276 || 20.43 ||
|-bgcolor=ccf9cc
| 4 || 2 ||align="left"| Darren Campbell ||align="left"|
||0.179 || 20.59 || , =
|-
| 5 || 8 ||align="left"| Cláudio Roberto Souza ||align="left"|
||0.159 || 20.64 ||
|-
| 6 || 7 ||align="left"| Jaysuma Saidy Ndure ||align="left"|
||0.248 || 20.73 ||
|-
| 7 || 1 ||align="left"| Panagiotis Sarris ||align="left"|
||0.184 || 20.92 ||
|-
| 8 || 4 ||align="left"| Andrew Howe ||align="left"|
|| 0.211 || 21.17 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +0.1 m/s
|}
Semifinals
Qualification rule: The first four runners in each semifinal heat (Q) moves on to the final.
Semifinal 1
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||6||align=left| Shawn Crawford || align=left| || 0.231 || 20.05 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||4||align=left| Bernard Williams || align=left| || 0.200 || 20.18 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||3||align=left| Frankie Fredericks || align=left| || 0.152 || 20.43 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||2||align=left| Tobias Unger || align=left| || 0.173 || 20.54 ||
|-
|5||5||align=left| Anastasios Gousis || align=left| || 0.205 || 20.68 ||
|-
|6||7||align=left| Christopher Williams || align=left| || 0.164 || 20.80 ||
|-
|7||8||align=left| Marcin Jędrusiński || align=left| || 0.245 || 20.81 ||
|-
|8||1||align=left| Darren Campbell || align=left| || 0.150 || 20.89 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: −0.1 m/s
|}
Semifinal 2
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|1||4||align=left| Justin Gatlin || align=left| || 0.195 || 20.35 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|2||6||align=left| Francis Obikwelu || align=left| || 0.244 || 20.36 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|3||3||align=left| Stéphane Buckland || align=left| || 0.183 || 20.37 ||
|-bgcolor=bbf3bb
|4||5||align=left| Asafa Powell || align=left| || 0.236 || 20.56 ||
|-
|5||8||align=left| Sebastian Ernst || align=left| || 0.299 || 20.63 ||
|-
|6||2||align=left| Juan Pedro Toledo || align=left| || 0.215 || 20.64 ||
|-
|7||7||align=left| Christian Malcolm || align=left| || 0.239 || 20.77 ||
|-
|8||1||align=left| Matic Osovnikar || align=left| || 0.197 || 20.89 ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +0.2 m/s
|}
Final
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank !! Lane !! Athlete !! Nation !! Reaction !! Time !! Notes
|-
||| 4 ||align=left| Shawn Crawford || align=left| || 0.226 || 19.79||
|-
||| 3 ||align=left| Bernard Williams || align=left| || 0.173 || 20.01||
|-
||| 5 ||align=left| Justin Gatlin || align=left| || 0.195 || 20.03||
|-
|4|| 8 ||align=left| Frankie Fredericks || align=left| || 0.248 || 20.14||
|-
|5|| 6 ||align=left| Francis Obikwelu || align=left| || 0.183 || 20.14||
|-
|6|| 7 ||align=left| Stéphane Buckland || align=left| || 0.294 || 20.24||
|-
|7|| 1 ||align=left| Tobias Unger || align=left| || 0.153 || 20.64||
|-
|data-sort-value=8| — || 2 ||align=left| Asafa Powell || align=left|
|data-sort-value=1.000| — ||data-sort-value=99.99| ||
|- class="sortbottom"
|colspan=4| || colspan="3" style="text-align:left;"| Wind: +1.2 m/s
|}
References
External links
- IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage