The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. 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. The event was won by 0.06 seconds by Don Quarrie of Jamaica.

Summary

Starting in lane 2, co-world record holder Don Quarrie of Jamaica was out to the lead from the gun. Only American Millard Hampton was in near contact. Through the turn, Hasely Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago pulled up and eventually limped home almost a minute behind the field. Coming off the turn another American, Dwayne Evans on the outside in lane 7, and future world record holder Italian Pietro Mennea 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 Pietro Mennea of Italy. The favorite was Don Quarrie 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 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 (UTC-4)

Date Time Round Sunday, 25 July 1976 10:3018:05 HeatsQuarterfinals Monday, 26 July 1976 14:4516:50 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Heats

Held on July 25, 1976.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Millard Hampton 21.11 2 Cuthbert Jacobs 21.50 3 Colin Bradford 21.57 4 Armando Padilla 23.07 5 Hamed Ali 23.37 — Ainsley Armstrong — Hannu Mäkelä

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Rick Mitchell 21.91 2 Peter Muster 22.33 3 Hasely Crawford 22.35 4 Calvin Dill 22.38 — Felix Lopez Matias Aleksandr Aksinin

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Dwayne Evans 20.96 2 Peter Fitzgerald 21.35 3 Georges Kablan Degnan 21.57 4 Abdul Aziz Abdul Kareem 22.44 5 Rawle Clarke 22.75 — Colin Thurton Petar Petrov

Heat 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Guy Abrahams 20.95 2 Thorsten Johansson 21.05 3 Pietro Farina 21.32 4 Nikolay Kolesnikov 21.33 5 Mark Lutz 21.50 6 Christian Dorosario 21.96 — Robert Martin

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.93 2 Zenon Nowosz 21.29 3 Joseph Arame 21.34 4 Sammy Monsels 21.60 5 Ramli Ahmad 21.92 — Clive Sands — Hermes Ramirez

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Ainsley Bennett 21.26 2 Bogdan Grzejszczak 21.35 3 Pedro Ferrer 21.60 4 Tony Moore 21.82 5 Philippe Étienne 22.57 — Francisco Gómez Valeriy Borzov

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Don Quarrie 20.85 2 Rui da Silva 20.99 3 Endre Lépold 21.50 4 Walter Callander 21.79 5 Marian Woronin 21.90 6 Ayoub Bodaghi 22.47 7 Wavala Kali 22.64

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Roland Bombardella 21.18 2 Lambert Micha 21.25 3 Jean Mayer 21.25 4 Hugh Fraser 21.54 5 Barka Sy 21.54 6 Vittorio Milanesio 21.94 — Silvio Leonard

Quarterfinals

Held on July 25, 1976.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Dwayne Evans 20.56 2 Guy Abrahams 20.72 3 Rui da Silva 20.76 4 Colin Bradford 21.03 5 Peter Muster 21.09 6 Zenon Nowosz 21.22 7 Pietro Farina 21.31 8 Hugh Fraser 21.57

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.70 2 Georges Kablan Degnan 20.91 3 Ainsley Bennett 21.07 4 Nikolay Kolesnikov 21.08 5 Thorsten Johansson 21.08 6 Calvin Dill 21.40 7 Endre Lépold 21.68 — Richard Mitchell

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Don Quarrie 20.28 2 Millard Hampton 20.83 3 Joseph Arame 21.04 4 Lambert Micha 21.09 5 Sammy Monsels 21.29 6 Cuthbert Jacobs 21.33 7 Tony Moore 21.75 8 Abdul Aziz Abdul Kareem 22.34

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Hasely Crawford 20.95 2 Bogdan Grzejszczak 21.02 3 Roland Bombardella 21.03 4 Peter Fitzgerald 21.07 5 Pedro Ferrer 21.33 6 Walter Callander 21.78 7 Armando Padilla 22.74 8 Jean Mayer 24.27

Semifinals

Held on July 26, 1976.

Semifinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.67 2 Millard Hampton 20.69 3 Hasely Crawford 20.99 4 Colin Bradford 21.09 5 Georges Kablan Degnan 21.14 6 Roland Bombardella 21.16 7 Nikolay Kolesnikov 21.25 8 Peter Fitzgerald 21.29

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Don Quarrie 20.48 2 Dwayne Evans 20.83 3 Rui da Silva 21.01 4 Bogdan Grzejszczak 21.14 5 Guy Abrahams 21.15 6 Joseph Arame 21.29 7 Lambert Micha 21.46 8 Ainsley Bennett 21.52

Final

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

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time 2 Don Quarrie 20.23 4 Millard Hampton 20.29 7 Dwayne Evans 20.43 41 Pietro Mennea 20.54 58 Rui da Silva 20.84 66 Bogdan Grzejszczak 20.91 73 Colin Bradford 21.17 85 Hasely Crawford 1:19.60

References