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 slight ...

event at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

was held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The final was won by 0.23 seconds by

Tommie Smith Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83 sec ...

in a time of 19.83, a new world record. However, the race is perhaps best known for what happened during the medal ceremony – the

Black Power salute The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a long-standing image of mixed meaning, often a symbol of solidarity, especially with a political movement. It is a common symbol representing a wide range of political ideologies, most notably socialism, ...

of Smith and bronze medallist

John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power salute on th ...

. The background, consequences, and legacy of the salute carried forward into subsequent Olympics and is perhaps the single most memorable event from these Olympics. The event started on 15 October and finished on 16 October. There were 50 athletes from 37 nations competing. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. Smith's win was the second consecutive and 12th overall for the United States. Peter Norman's medal was the second for Australia in the men's 200 metres, after

Stan Rowley Stanley Rupert Rowley (11 September 1876 – 1 April 1924) was an Australian sprinter who won four medals at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was born in Young, New South Wales and died in Manly, New South Wales. Early life Rowley was ...

's bronze 68 years earlier.

Background

This was the 15th 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 1964 Games returned: bronze medalist

Edwin Roberts Edwin Anthony Roberts (born 12 August 1941) is a retired Trinidadian runner. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics in various sprint events and had his best results in the 200 m, in which he finished third in 1964 and fourth in 1968. ...

of Trinidad and Tobago, fourth-place finisher

Harry Jerome Harry Winston Jerome (September 30, 1940 – December 7, 1982) was a Canadian track and field sprinter and physical education teacher. He won a bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo and set a total of seven world records over the course o ...

of Canada, and fifth-place finisher (and 1960 gold medalist)

Livio Berruti Livio Berruti (born 19 May 1939) is an Italian former athletics (sport), athlete who was the winner of the 200-meter dash in the 1960 Summer Olympics. He won five medals, at individual level, and three medals with the Italy national relays team ...

of Italy.

was the 1967 and 1968 AAU champion;

was the 1967 Pan American Games and 1968 U.S. Olympic trials winners (with a time that would have been a world record, but was not ratified because his shoes had too many spikes). The two were heavily favored, though had considered boycotting the Olympics to protest

racial inequality Social inequality occurs when resources within a society are distributed unevenly, often as a result of inequitable allocation practices that create distinct unequal patterns based on socially defined categories of people. Differences in acce ...

in the United States. Barbados, British Honduras (Belize), the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, West Germany, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan, Tanzania, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 15th 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 used again in the heats. There were 7 heats of between 7 and 8 runners each, with the top 4 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 4 fastest overall. 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.

's 20.3 / 20.37 in the second heat matched the hand-timed Olympic record.

Peter Norman Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australian track athlete. He won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds, which remained the Oceania 200 m recor ...

broke that record with a 20.2 / 20.23 in the sixth heat. Smith's time in the third quarterfinal was 20.2 / 20.28, equaling the record. Mike Fray matched the old 20.3 second record in the fourth quarterfinal. In the first semifinal, Norman again ran a 20.2 (/ 20.22) but was behind

at 20.1 / 20.12 for another new Olympic record. Smith matched Carlos's hand-timing in the second semifinal, with 20.1 / 20.14. Smith then broke the 20-second barrier in the final, recording 19.8 hand-timed and 19.83 auto-timed for a new world record.

Schedule

All times are

Central Standard Time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and a few Caribbean Islands, Caribbean islands. In parts of that zone (20 states in the US, three provinces or territorie ...

( UTC-6)

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metres Men's 200 metres

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

Men's events at the 1968 Summer Olympics