The men's

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

was an event at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

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. The competition was held on 25 July 1976 and 26 July 1976. There were 45 competitors from 33 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Summary

Starting in lane 2, co-world record holder

Don Quarrie Donald O'Riley Quarrie CD (born 25 February 1951) is a Jamaican former track and field athlete, one of the world's top sprinters during the 1970s. At the 1976 Summer Olympics he was the gold medallist in the Olympic 200 meters and silver med ...

of Jamaica was out to the lead from the gun. Only American

Millard Hampton Millard Frank Hampton Jr. (born July 8, 1956) is an American former athlete, winner of gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay and the individual silver medal in the 200 meters at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Born in Fresno, California, Millard Hampton was ...

was in near contact. Through the turn,

Hasely Crawford Hasely Joachim Crawford TC (born 16 August 1950) is a former track and field athlete from Trinidad and Tobago. In 1976, he became his country's first Olympic champion. A stadium was renamed in his honour in 2001. Early years Crawford was bor ...

of Trinidad and Tobago pulled up and eventually limped home almost a minute behind the field. Coming off the turn another American,

Dwayne Evans Dwayne Eugene Evans (born October 13, 1958) is an American athlete who mainly competed in the 200 meters. He competed for the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he won the bronze medal in the men's ...

on the outside in lane 7, and future world record holder Italian

Pietro Mennea Pietro Paolo Mennea (; 28 June 1952 – 21 March 2013), nicknamed ("the Arrow of the South"), was an Italian sprinter and politician. He was most successful in the 200m event, winning a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and set a world ...

across the track in lane 1, were battling for bronze with Bogdan Grzejszczak of Poland the next pursuer. Quarrie won the gold medal, with Hampton finishing close second. Meanwhile, Evans had the stronger finish to hold off Mennea. The fastest finish of all was by Rui da Silva, who came off the turn in dead last but made up several metres to take fifth. Quarrie's gold was Jamaica's first medal in the men's 200 metres. The United States extended its podium streak in the event to 10 Games.

Background

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the eight finalists from the 1972 Games returned: bronze medalist

of Italy. The favorite was

of Jamaica, who had also been favored four years earlier in Munich but pulled a hamstring in the semifinals. His biggest competitors in 1976 were Steve Williams of the United States, who was out injured, and

James Gilkes James Gilkes (born 21 September 1952) is a former sprinter from Guyana who specialised in the 200 metres. Career He was Athletics at the 1975 Pan American Games, 1975 Pan American 200 metre champion, and in Athletics at the 1979 Pan Ameri ...

of Guyana, who was not competing due to the African boycott. Antigua and Barbuda, the Ivory Coast, Kuwait, and Papua New Guinea each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 17th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the men's 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 available but not used this Games due to the distribution of heats making it unnecessary. There were 8 heats of between 6 and 7 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. No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern Daylight Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

( UTC-4)

Results

Heats

Held on July 25, 1976.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Heat 8

Quarterfinals

Held on July 25, 1976.

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

Held on July 26, 1976.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

Held on July 26, 1976. The Official Report has Crawford listed as did not finish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metres 1 200 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1976 Summer Olympics