The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were 79 participating athletes from 65 nations, with eleven qualifying heats. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.12 seconds by Michael Marsh of the United States, the nation's third consecutive and 15th overall victory in the event. The Americans would take a second medal for the third consecutive Games as well, this time with Michael Bates earning bronze. The silver medal went to Frankie Fredericks, taking Namibia's first medal in the men's 200 metres.

Background

This was the 21st 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 1988 Games returned: bronze medalist Robson da Silva of Brazil, fourth-place finisher Linford Christie of Great Britain, fifth-place finisher Atlee Mahorn of Canada, and sixth-place finisher Gilles Quénéhervé of France. Michael Johnson was the favorite coming into the Games; he had won the 1991 World Championship and was ranked #1 in the world in 1990 and 1991. He had been beaten in June by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, however, and teammate Michael Marsh had been only 0.07 seconds behind Johnson at the U.S. trials. Before the Games, Johnson came down with food poisoning; while he still competed, he was clearly not at full strength.

Bahrain, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, Grenada, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, San Marino, and Togo each made their debut in the event. Some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team. One Yugoslav athlete competed as an Independent Olympic Participant. The United States made its 20th 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 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.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Michael Marsh set a new Olympic and North American record with 19.73 seconds in his semifinal. It was also a sealevel record.

Schedule

The schedule featured three days of competition for the first time since 1908, up from two days in previous Games, with the semifinals and final on separate days.

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Date Time Round Monday, 3 August 1992 10:2018:20 HeatsQuarterfinals Wednesday, 5 August 1992 18:30 Semifinals Thursday, 6 August 1992 18:40 Final

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Frankie Fredericks 20.74 2 Andreas Berger 21.02 3 Edgardo Guilbe 21.75 4 Wyndell Dickinson 21.78 5 Bothloko Shebe 21.96 6 Apisai Driu Baibai 22.07 7 Médard Makanga 22.18

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Michael Johnson 20.80 2 Patrick Stevens 20.93 3 Sérgio de Menezes 21.17 4 Francis Ogola 21.29 5 Miguel Ángel Gómez 21.46 6 Samuel Nchinda-Kaya 21.50 7 Sriyantha Dissanayake 21.61

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Oluyemi Kayode 20.42 2 Atlee Mahorn 21.01 3 Boevi Lawson 21.05 4 Ouattara Lagazane 21.13 5 Simon Kipkemboi 21.57 6 Dejan Jovković 21.77 7 Amadou Sy Savané 21.86 8 Jaime Zelaya 22.05

Heat 4

Quénéhervé was originally disqualified, putting Seaksarn Boonrat in third place and qualifying the Thai runner for the quarterfinals. When Quénéhervé was reinstated, both men advanced on placement (Seaksarn Boonrat would have advanced on time, but this resulted in him not using one of the "lucky loser" places).

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Michael Bates 20.91 2 Gilles Quénéhervé 20.99 3 Kennedy Ondiek 21.04 4 Seaksarn Boonrat 21.39 5 Eswort Coombs 22.07 6 Bounhom Siliphone 23.64 — Afonso Ferraz

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Daniel Cojocaru 21.20 2 Linford Christie 21.23 3 Stefan Burkart 21.33 4 Abel Tshaka Nzimande 21.43 5 Mateaki Mafi 22.05 6 Lamin Marikong 22.33 7 Randolph Foster 22.47 8 Abdullah Salem Al-Khalidi 22.48

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Marcus Adam 20.62 2 Nikolay Antonov 20.94 3 Nelson Boateng 21.03 4 Henrico Atkins 21.28 5 Ato Boldon 21.65 6 Shahanuddin Choudhury 21.88 7 Kaminiel Selot 22.36 8 Boureima Kimba 22.49

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Olapade Adeniken 20.79 2 Clive Wright 20.98 3 Edvin Ivanov 21.10 4 Giannis Zisimidis 21.51 5 Aldo Canti 21.69 6 Gabriel Simeon 22.09 7 Kenmore Hughes 22.18

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Dean Capobianco 20.86 2 Torbjörn Eriksson 21.08 3 Ibrahima Tamba 21.25 4 Sayed Mubarak Al-Kuwari 21.87 5 Adam Hassan Sakak 21.96 6 Robinson Stewart 21.97 — Jean-Charles Trouabal — Juan Vicente Matala

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John Regis 20.63 2 Sidnei de Souza 20.72 3 Emmanuel Tuffour 21.07 4 Horace Dove-Edwin 21.38 5 Khaled Ibrahim Jouma 21.55 6 Harouna Pale 21.65 7 Boubout Dieng 22.75

Heat 10

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Mike Marsh 20.38 2 Neil De Silva 20.89 3 Peter Ogilvie 21.11 4 Ousmane Diarra 21.73 5 Hussain Arif 21.75 6 Pat Kwok Wai 22.45 7 Ahmed Shageef 22.54

Heat 11

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Robson da Silva 20.62 2 Cameron Taylor 20.91 3 Christoph Pöstinger 21.02 4 Anthony Wilson 21.21 5 Valentin Ngbogo 21.51 6 Claude Roumain 22.51 — Fletcher Wamilee

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Marcus Adam 20.43 2 Michael Johnson 20.55 3 Neil de Silva 20.66 4 Atlee Mahorn 20.78 5 Christoph Pöstinger 20.83 6 Sergio de Menezes 21.00 7 Horace Dove-Edwin 21.80 — Eduardo Guilbe Alomar

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Robson da Silva 20.35 2 Olapade Adeniken 20.47 3 Clive Wright 20.70 4 Edvin Ivanov 20.78 5 Cameron Taylor 20.83 6 Samuel Nelson Boateng 21.04 7 Ouattara Lagazane 21.39 8 Francis Ogola 21.41

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Michael Bates 20.22 2 Oluyemi Kayode 20.22 3 Linford Christie 20.52 4 Dean Capobianco 20.61 5 Peter Ogilvie 20.77 6 Andreas Berger 21.02 7 Seksarn Boon Rat 21.30 — Tshakile Nzimande

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Michael Marsh 20.08 2 Sidney Telles 20.69 3 Torbjörn Eriksson 20.81 4 Kennedy Ondieki 20.86 5 Gilles Quénéhervé 20.96 6 Daniel Cojocaru 20.96 7 Ibrahim Tamba 21.28 8 Miguel Ángel Gómez 21.32 9 Stefan Burkart 21.52

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Frankie Fredericks 20.02 2 John Regis 20.16 3 Nikolay Antonov 20.50 4 Emmanuel Tuffour 20.58 5 Patrick Stevens 20.67 6 Henrico Atkins 21.19 7 Anthony Wilson 21.22 8 Boevi Youlou Lawson 21.47

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Michael Marsh 19.73 , 2 John Regis 20.09 3 Robson da Silva 20.15 4 Oluyemi Kayode 20.23 5 Linford Christie 20.38 6 Nikolay Antonov 20.55 7 Clive Wright 20.82 8 Torbjörn Eriksson 20.85

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Frankie Fredericks 20.14 2 Michael Bates 20.39 3 Olapade Adeniken 20.39 4 Marcus Adam 20.63 5 Emmanuel Tuffour 20.78 6 Michael Johnson 20.78 7 Sidney Telles 20.88 — Neil de Silva

Final

Held on August 6, 1992.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Michael Marsh 20.01 Frankie Fredericks 20.13 Michael Bates 20.38 4 Robson da Silva 20.45 5 Olapade Adeniken 20.50 6 John Regis 20.55 7 Oluyemi Kayode 20.67 8 Marcus Adam 20.80

See also 1988 Men's Olympic Games 200 metres (Seoul) 1990 Men's European Championships 200 metres (Split) 1991 Men's World Championships 200 metres (Tokyo) 1993 Men's World Championships 200 metres (Stuttgart) 1994 Men's European Championships 200 metres (Helsinki) 1995 Men's World Championships 200 metres (Gothenburg) 1996 Men's Olympic Games 200 metres (Atlanta)

References

External links Official Report Results