The men's 200 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 72 competitors from 59 nations, with ten qualifying heats (72), five quarterfinal races (40) and two semifinals (16), before the final (8) took off on Wednesday September 28, 1988. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Joe DeLoach of the United States, beating his teammate and defending champion Carl Lewis by 0.04 seconds in the final. The defeat ended Lewis's hopes of repeating his 1984 quadruple, despite running the final under his own Olympic record time. It was the United States' 14th victory in the men's 200 metres. Lewis was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event, matching Andy Stanfield for the best result to that point (a gold and a silver). Robson da Silva earned Brazil's first medal in the event with his bronze.

Background

This was the 20th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Three of the eight finalists from the 1984 Games returned: gold medalist Carl Lewis of the United States, fifth-place finisher Ralf Lübke of West Germany, and seventh-place finisher Pietro Mennea of Italy. Mennea was competing in his fifth Games in this event, having won bronze in 1972, finished fourth in 1976, and won gold in 1980 previously. Lewis was attempting to repeat his 1984 quadruple of winning the 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump, and 4x100 metres relay (and had started well on that goal, winning the 100 and the long jump). He had placed second in the U.S. trials to Joe DeLoach in this event, however, and the competition between the two was expected to be tight. Nobody else running the event was thought to be close to the American pair.

Burkina Faso, Chinese Taipei, the Maldives, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Yemen, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 19th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

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 10 heats of 7 or 8 runners each, with the top 3 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 10 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.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Joe DeLoach and Carl Lewis both finished the final under the Olympic record time; DeLoach's 19.75 seconds became the new record, while Lewis's 19.79 seconds was good for silver.

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round Monday, 26 September 1988 11:0514:00 HeatsQuarterfinals Wednesday, 28 September 1988 13:4016:00 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Heats

First 3 from each heat (Q) and the next 10 fastest (q) qualified for the quarterfinals.

Rank Heat Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 2 Gilles Quénéhervé 20.55 3 Atlee Mahorn 20.55 3 1 Roy Martin 20.65 8 Cyprian Enweani 20.65 5 10 Stefano Tilli 20.68 6 8 Daniel Sangouma 20.70 7 10 Carl Lewis 20.72 8 10 Olapade Adeniken 20.77 9 6 Kennedy Ondiek 20.79 10 3 Ralf Lübke 20.81 11 8 Patrick Stevens 20.84 12 8 Norbert Dobeleit 20.86 13 4 John Regis 20.90 14 6 Troy Douglas 20.91 15 4 Clive Wright 20.94 16 1 Michael Rosswess 20.95 17 2 Kenji Yamauchi 20.98 5 Joe DeLoach 20.98 6 Attila Kovács 20.98 20 10 John Myles-Mills 21.04 21 7 Linford Christie 21.05 22 5 Mark Garner 21.09 23 5 Edgardo Guilbe 21.09 24 2 Iziaq Adeyanju 21.10 6 Pietro Mennea 21.10 26 7 Bruno Marie-Rose 21.11 27 9 Robson da Silva 21.12 28 10 Mostefa-Kamel Selmi 21.24 29 2 Jang Jae-keun 21.27 30 5 Andreas Berger 21.29 31 9 Luís Barroso 21.31 32 1 Harouna Pale 21.33 8 Li Feng 21.33 9 Jimmy Flemming 21.33 35 1 Nchinda Samuel-Kaya 21.45 7 Courtney Brown 21.45 37 2 Lee Shiunn-Long 21.53 38 8 Ousmane Diarra 21.55 39 3 Oliver Daniels 21.59 40 1 Henri Ndinga 21.66 41 1 Fabian Muyaba 21.66 42 4 Ibrahima Tamba 21.68 43 3 Leung Wing Kwong 21.69 44 7 Luís Cunha 21.72 45 4 Issa Alassane Ousséni 21.74 46 6 Lindel Hodge 21.78 47 3 Sunday Olweny 21.79 48 6 Abdullah Al-Khalidi 21.82 49 2 Aouf Abdul Rahman Youssef 21.88 6 André François 21.88 51 3 Muhammad Afzal 21.89 52 2 Takale Tuna 21.95 53 5 Henriko Atkins 21.98 54 10 Jerry Jeremiah 22.01 55 1 Markus Büchel 22.02 56 3 Mohamed Fahd Al-Bishi 22.09 57 8 Abdullah Ali Ahmed 22.11 58 7 Carlos Moreno 22.13 59 9 Alexandre Yougbare 22.14 60 7 Odia Silweya 22.24 61 9 Gustavo Envela Mahua 22.33 62 4 Maloni Bole 22.44 63 7 Peauope Suli 22.49 64 1 Mohamed Shah Alam 22.52 65 4 Claude Roumain 22.60 10 Howard Lindsay 22.60 67 8 Nguyễn Đình Minh 22.65 68 5 Robert Loua 22.78 69 9 Benny Kgarametso 22.79 70 2 Sahim Saleh Mehdi 22.95 71 6 Ismail Asif 23.17 — 9 Gaspar Fernandes — 4 Samuel Birch 5 Simon Kipkemboi 7 Boeviyoulou Lawson

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Carl Lewis 20.57 2 John Regis 20.61 3 Cyprian Enweani 20.62 4 Edgardo Guilbe 20.73 5 Kenji Yamauchi 20.94 6 Jimmy Flemming 21.23 7 Moustafa Kamel Salmi 21.26 8 Ousmane Diarra 21.46

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bruno Marie-Rose 20.48 2 Roy Martin 20.54 3 Troy Douglas 20.70 4 Kennedy Ondiek 20.79 5 Attila Kovács 21.19 6 Lee Shiunn-Long 21.34 7 Harouna Pale 21.35 — Pietro Mennea

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Linford Christie 20.49 2 Atlee Mahorn 20.59 3 Ralf Lübke 20.80 4 Luís Barroso 20.81 5 Patrick Stevens 20.94 6 John Myles-Mills 20.95 7 Andreas Berger 21.40 8 Ibrahima Tamba 21.93

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Joe DeLoach 20.56 2 Gilles Quénéhervé 20.77 3 Olapade Adeniken 20.92 4 Norbert Dobeleit 20.98 5 Mark Garner 21.08 6 Jang Jae-Geun 21.35 7 Li Feng 21.38 8 Oliver Daniels 22.25

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Robson da Silva 20.41 2 Stefano Tilli 20.67 3 Michael Rosswess 20.74 4 Daniel Sangouma 20.81 5 Clive Wright 20.87 6 Isiag Adeyanju 21.01 7 Courtney Brown 21.18 8 Samuel Nchinda-Kaya 21.39

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Carl Lewis 20.23 2 Robson da Silva 20.28 3 Atlee Mahorn 20.43 4 Gilles Quénéhervé 20.54 5 Stefano Tilli 20.59 6 Roy Martin 20.62 7 John Regis 20.69 8 Ralf Lübke 21.23

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Joe DeLoach 20.06 2 Linford Christie 20.33 3 Bruno Marie-Rose 20.50 4 Michael Rosswess 20.51 5 Cyprian Enweani 20.57 6 Olapade Adeniken 20.67 7 Edgardo Guilbe 20.77 8 Troy Douglas 20.84

Final

Carl Lewis' time of 19.79 seconds was the fastest non-winning time until the 1996 Olympic final.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Joe DeLoach 19.75 Carl Lewis 19.79 Robson da Silva 20.04 4 Linford Christie 20.09 5 Atlee Mahorn 20.39 6 Gilles Quénéhervé 20.40 7 Michael Rosswess 20.51 8 Bruno Marie-Rose 20.58

See also 1984 Men's Olympic 200 metres (Los Angeles) 1986 Men's European Championships 200 metres (Stuttgart) 1987 Men's World Championships 200 metres (Rome) 1990 Men's European Championships 200 metres (Split) 1991 Men's World Championships 200 metres (Tokyo) 1992 Men's Olympic 200 metres (Barcelona)

References

External links Official Report