The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. There were 67 competitors from 32 countries. The first and second rounds were held on Monday 26 November and the semifinals and final on Tuesday 27 November. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Even though it had been a part of the Olympics, the IAAF had only certified world records for the 200 meters around the bend since 1951. Both claimants to the record Andy Stanfield and Thane Baker were in this final. Stanfield took a slight lead from the gun, making up the stagger on Jose Telles da Conceicao to his outside just past halfway through the turn. Inside of him, 100 meter champion Bobby Morrow slowly accelerated and caught Stanfield. Coming off the turn, Morrow had almost a meter advantage. Two meters back, Baker was in a battle with Michael Agostini. Down the final straight, Morrow opened up another meter to take the win by 0.22 seconds. Baker separated from Agostini and made a late run at Stanfield, coming up a couple of feet short.

Morrow's hand time of 20.6 second equalled the world record. The American sweep was the second consecutive and fourth overall sweep for the United States; Morrow's gold was the fifth consecutive and 10th overall for the nation. Stanfield and Baker were the third and fourth men to earn multiple medals in the 200 metres.

Background

This was the 12th 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 six finalists from the 1952 Games returned: gold medalist Andy Stanfield and silver medalist Thane Baker, both of the United States. The third member of the 1952 American sweep, James Gathers, had been replaced by Bobby Morrow. Morrow and Dave Sime had been favorites early in the year, but Sime was injured and did not make the Olympic team.

The Bahamas, Ethiopia, Guyana, Liberia, Malaya, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and Uganda each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats of between 2 and 7 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 6 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world (curved track) and Olympic records were as follows.

Bobby Morrow's hand-timed final run of 20.6 seconds was equal to the world record and set a new Olympic record.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round Tuesday, 26 November 1956 14:3017:40 HeatsQuarterfinals Wednesday, 27 November 1956 15:0017:00 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Heats

Twelve heats were held, the two fastest in each would qualify for the quarterfinals.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jose Telles da Conceicao 21.61 2 Manfred Germar 21.88 3 René Ahumada 21.96 4 Mel Spence 22.13 5 Jean-Pierre Goudeau 22.13 — Voitto Hellsten

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Karl-Friedrich Haas 21.56 2 Václav Janeček 21.85 3 Douglas Winston 22.20 4 Milkha Singh 22.47 5 Kyohei Ushio 22.64 — Carlos Sierra — Zenon Baranowski

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Mike Agostini 21.80 2 Vincenzo Lombardo 21.94 3 Yuriy Konovalov 22.09 4 Josef Trousil 22.54 5 Legesse Beyene 23.63 6 Manun Bumroongpruck 24.59 — James Roberts

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andy Stanfield 21.69 2 Sergio D'Asnasch 22.35 3 Muhammad Sharif Butt 22.38 4 Fred Hammer 22.73 5 Negussie Roba 23.89 — Apolinar Solórzano — Norberto Cruz

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Abdul Khaliq 21.32 2 Maurice Rae 21.57 3 Joao Pires Sobrinho 21.67 4 Tom Robinson 21.76 5 Sándor Jakabfy 21.78 6 Malcolm Spence 21.86 — René Farine

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Kanji Akagi 22.26 2 Jorge Machado de Barros 22.30 — Bruno Urben — Stan Levenson — Géza Varasdi — Hilmar Þorbjörnsson — Sinnayah Karuppiah Jarabalan

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 21.92 2 Béla Goldoványi 22.08 3 Bjørn Nilsen 22.33 4 Oliver Hunter 22.54 5 Giovanni Ghiselli 22.68 6 Hailou Abbebe 23.25 — Alfonso Bruno

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Vilem Mandlik 21.79 2 Hector Hogan 21.97 3 David Segal 22.22 4 Joseph Foreman 22.28 5 Kesavan Soon 23.33 6 Lee Kah Fook 23.94

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bobby Morrow 21.95 2 Edward Szmidt 22.03 3 Graham Gipson 22.06 4 Akira Kiyofuji 22.56 5 Abdul Aziz 22.98 — Ghanim Mahmoud

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Boris Tokarev 21.62 2 Brian Shenton 21.85 3 Rafael Romero 21.87 4 Janusz Jarzembowski 21.91 5 Joseph Goddard 22.23 6 Eero Kivelä 22.56 7 Benjamin Kiyini Nduga 22.89

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Constantin Lissenko 22.06 2 Iván Rodríguez 22.06 3 Roy Sandstrom 22.18 4 Pentti Rekola 22.22 5 Jack Parrington 22.61 6 Montri Srinaka 23.88 7 Emmanuel Putu 24.33

Heat 12

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Leonhard Pohl 21.78 2 Leonid Bartenev 21.94 3 Yves Camus 22.37 4 Paiboon Vacharapan 23.92 5 Richard Estick 25.81 — Edmund Turton

Quarterfinals

Four heats were held, the three fastest in each would qualify for the semifinals.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Abdul Khaliq 21.34 2 Michael Agostini 21.35 3 Leonhard Pohl 21.49 4 Leonid Bartenev 21.53 5 Béla Goldoványi 21.64 6 Edward Szmidt 21.73

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andy Stanfield 21.22 2 Boris Tokarev 21.42 3 Jose Telles da Conceicao 21.46 4 Vincenzo Lombardo 21.53 5 Kanji Akagi 22.03 — Constantin Lissenko

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 21.34 2 Vilem Mandlik 21.56 3 Karl-Friedrich Haas 21.68 4 Hector Hogan 21.90 5 Iván Rodríguez 22.16 6 Sergio D'Asnasch 22.82

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bobby Morrow 22.03 2 Maurice Rae 22.12 3 Brian Shenton 22.15 4 Václav Janeček 22.26 5 Jorge Machado de Barros 23.88 — Manfred Germar

Semifinals

Two semifinals were held, the three fastest of which would qualify for the final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Thane Baker 21.21 2 Bobby Morrow 21.43 3 Jose Telles da Conceicao 21.53 4 Abdul Khaliq 21.58 5 Karl-Friedrich Haas 21.74 6 Maurice Rae 21.75

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Andy Stanfield 21.35 2 Michael Agostini 21.48 3 Boris Tokarev 21.50 4 Leonhard Pohl 21.64 5 Vilem Mandlik 21.74 6 Brian Shenton 22.08

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Bobby Morrow 20.75 , Andy Stanfield 20.97 Thane Baker 21.05 4 Michael Agostini 21.35 5 Boris Tokarev 21.42 6 Jose Telles da Conceicao 21.56

References

External links Official Report Results