The men's 200 metres was the second-shortest of the men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. 63 athletes from 48 nations entered, with 6 not starting in the first round. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The first two rounds were held on 16 October, with the semifinals and the final on 17 October. The event was won by 0.2 seconds by Henry Carr of the United States, the nation's 11th victory in the event. Fellow American Paul Drayton took silver; it was the fifth time in six Games that the United States had the top two finishers. Edwin Roberts gave Trinidad and Tobago its first medal in the men's 200 metres with his bronze.
Background
This was the 14th 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 1960 Games returned: gold medalist Livio Berruti of Italy and fourth-place finisher Marian Foik of Poland. The American team, however, was favored: Henry Carr had won the AAU championship in 1964, Paul Drayton had won in 1961 and 1962, and the two had tied in 1963. Carr held the world record of 20.2 seconds (set in a 220 yards race).
Cameroon, Colombia, Hong Kong, Iran, Madagascar, Northern Rhodesia, Rhodesia, and Senegal each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 14th 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. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1960 was not used, with the number of heats in each round make it unnecessary. The 1964 competition made the 8 person heat standard.
There were 8 heats of between 7 and 8 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 4 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 8 athletes each; the 4 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 8 runners. Again, the top 4 athletes advanced. The final had 8 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Paul Drayton matched the Olympic record of 20.5 seconds in the first semifinal. He ran the same time in the final, but Henry Carr won in 20.3 seconds to set a new Olympic record.
Schedule
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
Date Time Round Friday, 16 October 1964 10:3014:30 HeatsQuarterfinals Saturday, 17 October 1964 14:3016:00 SemifinalsFinal
Results
Heats
The top four runners in each of the 8 heats advanced.
Heat 1 Wind: +0.6 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Paul Drayton 20.7 20.70 2 Andrzej Zielinski 21.2 21.24 3 Clifton Bertrand 21.3 21.39 4 Johan du Preez 21.4 21.45 5 Jean-Louis Descloux 21.5 21.52 6 F. J. Gutierrez Hernandez 21.8 21.88 7 Gerardo di Tolla 22.1 – 8 Somsak Thongsuk 22.6 –
Heat 2 Wind: +0.2 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Roger Bambuck 21.2 21.29 2 Arquímedes Herrera 21.3 21.38 3 Boris Zubov 21.4 21.46 4 Peter Radford 21.5 21.52 5 Erasmus Amukun 21.5 21.55 6 Carlos Lorenzo Manueco 21.6 21.60 — Levy Psawkin – Iijima Hideo –
Heat 3 Wind: +0.3 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Menzies Campbell 21.3 21.33 2 Serafino Antao 21.5 21.52 3 Csaba Csutoras 21.5 21.54 4 B. El Maachi Bouchaib 21.5 21.58 5 David Njitock 22.5 – 6 Wesley Johnson 24.7 – — Eric James Bigby – Pablo McNeil –
Heat 4 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Marian Foik 21.1 21.11 2 Sergio Ottolina 21.2 21.27 3 Edvin Ozolin 21.3 21.32 4 Jeffery Smith 21.7 21.77 5 Jassim Karim Kuraishi 22.6 – 6 Lee Ar-tu 23.0 – — Enrique Figuerola –
Heat 5 Wind: 0.0 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Harry Jerome 20.9 20.95 2 M. Jegathesan 20.9 20.99 3 Paul Genevay 21.0 21.08 4 Franciscus Luitjes 21.1 21.13 5 Heinz Erbstosser 21.4 21.40 6 Tegegn Bezabih 22.0 22.03 7 Abdolvahab Shahkhoreh 22.3 – — Borys Savchuk –
Heat 6 Wind: +0.1 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Edwin Roberts 20.8 20.89 2 Bob Lay 21.3 21.34 3 Pedro Grajales 21.4 21.48 4 David Ejoke 21.4 21.48 5 George Reginald Collie 21.9 21.91 6 Kenneth Lawrence Powell 21.9 21.94 7 Aggrey Sheroy Awori 22.2 – 8 William Hill 22.5 –
Heat 7 Wind: -1.4 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Heinz Schumann 21.0 21.09 2 Henry Carr 21.1 21.12 3 Jocelyn Delecour 21.3 21.38 4 Ivan Moreno 21.5 21.55 5 Alioune Sow 21.9 21.91 6 Michael Okantey 21.9 21.97 7 Rogelio Onofre 22.1 22.17 — Tom Robinson –
Heat 8 Wind: +0.9 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Livio Berruti 21.1 21.11 2 Richard Stebbins 21.1 21.17 3 Fritz Roderfeld 21.5 21.58 4 Gary Holdsworth 21.6 21.65 5 Jose Fernandes da Rocha 21.7 21.79 6 Valeriu Jurca 21.8 21.82 7 Chung Ki Sun 22.3 – 8 Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa 22.4 –
Quarterfinals
The four fastest runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinals.
Quarterfinal 1 Wind: -0.9 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Paul Drayton 20.9 20.98 2 Livio Berruti 21.2 21.24 3 M. Jegathesan 21.4 21.40 4 Jocelyn Delecour 21.5 21.58 5 Andrzej Zielinski 21.5 21.59 6 Boris Zubov 21.8 21.86 7 Jeffery Smith 22.0 22.05 8 Serafino Antao 22.1 22.11
Quarterfinal 2 Wind: -1.2 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Henry Carr 21.0 21.02 2 Sergio Ottolina 21.1 21.16 3 Heinz Schumann 21.2 21.25 4 Arquimedes Herrera 21.2 21.29 5 Bob Lay 21.4 21.49 6 Csaba Csutoras 21.4 21.50 7 Ivan Moreno 21.7 21.74 8 Johan du Preez 21.8 21.87
Quarterfinal 3 Wind: -2.9 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Harry Jerome 21.2 21.23 2 Richard Stebbins 21.2 21.28 3 Roger Bambuck 21.4 21.47 4 B. El Maachi Boushaib 21.6 21.66 5 Clifton Bertrand 21.6 21.69 6 Menzies Campbell 21.7 21.74 7 P. A. Grajales Escobar 21.7 21.78 8 Friedrich Roderfeld 22.2 22.29
Quarterfinal 4 Wind: -2.2 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Edwin Roberts 20.9 20.90 2 Marian Foik 21.0 21.08 3 Paul Genevay 21.3 21.35 4 Franciscus Luitjes 21.4 21.40 5 Edvin Ozolin 21.4 21.47 6 Peter Radford 21.5 21.53 7 Gary Holdsworth 22.1 22.13 — David Ejoke –
Semifinals
The top four runners in each of the two semifinals qualified for the final.
Semifinal 1
Drayton tied the Olympic record in this semifinal, three-tenths of a second short of the world record.
Wind: +0.4 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Paul Drayton 20.5 20.58 , 2 Sergio Ottolina 20.7 20.76 3 Richard Stebbins 20.8 20.88 4 Marian Foik 20.9 20.94 5 Paul Genevay 20.9 21.00 6 Arquimedes Herrera 21.0 21.07 7 Franciscus Luitjes 21.1 21.16 8 B. El Maachi Bouchaib 21.6 21.61
Semifinal 2
The second semifinal was the fourth race of the 200 metres in which an American won and an Italian took second place.
Wind: +0.5 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes 1 Henry Carr 20.6 20.69 2 Livio Berruti 20.7 20.78 3 Edwin Roberts 20.8 20.86 4 Harry Jerome 21.0 21.01 5 Roger Bambuck 21.0 21.06 6 Heinz Schumann 21.1 21.18 7 Jocelyn Delecour 21.2 21.26 8 M. Jegathesan 21.2 21.26
Final
Drayton matched his semifinal time, which had tied the Olympic record at 20.5 seconds, but Carr did even better, setting a new Olympic record of 20.3 seconds to bump Drayton to the silver medal. Carr's time was only one-tenth of a second off the world record.
Wind: -0.8 m/s Rank Athlete Nation Time (hand) Time (automatic) Notes Henry Carr 20.3 20.36 Paul Drayton 20.5 20.58 Edwin Roberts 20.6 20.63 4 Harry Jerome 20.7 20.79 5 Livio Berruti 20.8 20.83 6 Marian Foik 20.8 20.83 7 Richard Stebbins 20.8 20.89 8 Sergio Ottolina 20.9 20.94
References