Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

Men's 200 metres at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
Usain Bolt and LaShawn Merritt at finish
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Dates	16 August 2016 (Preliminary round & heats) 17 August 2016 (semi-final) 18 August 2016 (final)
Competitors	79 from 49 nations
Winning time	19.78 s
Medalists
Usain Bolt  Jamaica Andre de Grasse  Canada Christophe Lemaitre  France

The men's 200 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 16–18 August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the Olympic Stadium.

Summary

Bolt kisses the finish line after winning

Bolt doing the lightning bolt

2012 Olympic champion and 2015 World Champion Usain Bolt, is unbeaten over 200 m since 2007. Bolt had only competed once over 200 m in 2016 before the Olympics, recording a time of 19.89 seconds, fifth in the world in 2016. US team entries had the 3 world leading times in 2016 before the Olympics 400 metres specialist LaShawn Merritt, 2015 World runner-up and American champion Justin Gatlin and Ameer Webb. The Canadian team was Brendon Rodney, Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse. Bolt's training partner Miguel Francis and Britain's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake were the other athletes to have run under 20 seconds that season. The Jamaican team also featured 2012 Olympic runner-up Yohan Blake.

In the semi-final round, #1 of the year. LaShawn Merritt cruised to an easy win in the first, with Christophe Lemaitre second. The second semi saw Usain Bolt run 19.78, in the last few metres Andre De Grasse rushed up to Bolt's shoulder, the two friends looking at each other and laughing as they crossed the line. Bolt's time was his fastest the year and De Grasse set a new Canadian record of 19.80 seconds. As Bud Winter the sprint coach who influenced Glen Mills, Bolt's coach, would say; "Relax and win." Both the time qualifiers Adam Gemili and Ramil Guliyev both came from this fastest of the three semi final heats. #3 of the year, Ameer Webb was left behind. In the third semi, Alonso Edward and Churandy Martina qualified in 1st and 2nd place. World #2 in 2016 Justin Gatlin held the lead with 50 metres to go but started looking around did not keep up his speed sufficiently. He should have seen Alonso Edward as he pulled ahead of Gatlin and on the far outside, Churandy Martina closed fast to take the second qualifying position. Gatlin failed to reach the final. 2012 silver medallist and number #2 runner of all time, Yohan Blake finished sixth.

The final was held following a light rainstorm that affected the women's javelin throw. The track was still wet and conditions cooler. Still the stadium was electric to see lightning, the star Usain Bolt in what was expected to be his last individual race in the Olympics. Bolt was in lane 6, playing to the camera and to the crowd before the race. Lemaitre and Martina were to his outside. Bolt got a good start and quickly made up the stagger on Lemaitre then Martina barely half way through the turn. Inside of him, DeGrasse got out well in lane 4 while Merritt lagged in 5. As the stagger began to resolve near the end of the turn, Bolt held a two metre lead over a wall of chasers. Martina held a slight edge on DeGrasse and Edward inside of him in lane 3 who were barely ahead of Merritt and Gemili, with Lemaitre slightly behind. Bolt was 9.9 at the half way mark. Down the home stretch, Bolt was working hard, his face showing the strain. Behind him, DeGrasse was starting to separate from the row of contenders. Only Guliyev was beaten. As they approached the finish Edwards and Merritt faded. Bolt had a 3 metre gap over DeGrasse, another metre and a half back, Lemaitre, Gemili, and Martina hit the finish line together. The photo finish revealed Lemaitre to be the bronze medalist, with only six thousandths of a second separating the three runners.

Bolt's winning time equalled his time from the semi-final he was joking around in. DeGrasse and most of the field was more than 2 tenths of a second slower than the night before.

After the race, Bolt celebrated his last individual victory, kissing the finish line and doing the lightning bolt.

Records

Before this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Usain Bolt (JAM)	19.19	Berlin, Germany	20 August 2009
Olympic record	Usain Bolt (JAM)	19.30	Beijing, China	20 August 2008

Area	Time (s)	Wind	Athlete	Nation
Africa (records)	19.68	+0.4	Frank Fredericks	Namibia
Asia (records)	19.97	−0.4	Femi Ogunode	Qatar
Europe (records)	19.72[A]	+1.8	Pietro Mennea	Italy
North, Central America and Caribbean (records)	19.19 WR	−0.3	Usain Bolt	Jamaica
Oceania (records)	20.06[A]	+0.9	Peter Norman	Australia
South America (records)	19.81	−0.3	Alonso Edward	Panama

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country	Athlete	Round	Time	Notes
Spain	Bruno Hortelano (ESP)	Heats	20.12 s
Bahrain	Salem Eid Yaqoob (BRN)	Heats	20.19 s
Liberia	Emmanuel Matadi (LBR)	Heats	20.49 s
Swaziland	Sibusiso Matsenjwa (SWZ)	Heats	20.63 s
Costa Rica	Nery Brenes (CRC)	Semifinals	20.20 s
Canada	Andre de Grasse (CAN)	Semifinals	19.80 s

Schedule

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 16 August 2016	11:50	Round 1
Wednesday, 17 August 2016	22:00	Semifinals
Thursday, 18 August 2016	22:30	Finals

Format

The competition featured three rounds: a round one heats stage with ten races, three semi-final races, and a single final. Each race featured eight athletes. The top two from each heat and the four fastest non-qualifiers progress to the semi-final. The top two finishers in each of the three semi-finals reach the final, alongside the two fastest non-qualifiers.

Results

Round 1

Qualification rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) advance to the Semifinals.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	Alonso Edward	Panama	0.137	20.19	Q
2	2	Daniel Talbot	Great Britain	0.143	20.27	Q, PB
3	8	Lykourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas	Greece	0.161	20.31	q, SB
4	7	Femi Ogunode	Qatar	0.167	20.36
5	3	Jeremy Dodson	Samoa	0.144	20.51
6	4	Jak Ali Harvey	Turkey	0.139	20.58	SB
7	5	Mosito Lehata	Lesotho	0.162	20.65	SB
–	1	Demetrius Pinder	Bahamas	—	DQ	R 162.7
				Wind: +0.7 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	8	Bruno Hortelano	Spain	0.161	20.12	Q, NR
2	6	Yohan Blake	Jamaica	0.166	20.13	Q, SB
3	4	Ameer Webb	United States	0.157	20.31	q
4	3	Anaso Jobodwana	South Africa	0.175	20.53
5	7	Robin Erewa	Germany	0.197	20.61
6	2	Emmanuel Dasor	Ghana	0.164	20.65
7	5	Shavez Hart	Bahamas	0.151	20.74	SB
8	1	Bernardo Baloyes	Colombia	0.200	20.78
				Wind: −0.2 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Salem Eid Yaqoob	Bahrain	0.167	20.19	Q, NR
2	6	Ramil Guliyev	Turkey	0.148	20.23	Q, SB
3	2	Aaron Brown	Canada	0.127	20.23	q
4	3	Shōta Iizuka	Japan	0.163	20.49
5	8	Emmanuel Matadi	Liberia	0.219	20.49	NR
6	4	Sibusiso Matsenjwa	Swaziland	0.196	20.63	NR
7	7	Levi Cadogan	Barbados	0.186	21.02
8	1	Tega Odele	Nigeria	0.130	21.25
				Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	José Carlos Herrera	Mexico	0.143	20.29	Q
2	8	Roberto Skyers	Cuba	0.149	20.44	Q
3	6	Jorge Vides	Brazil	0.176	20.50
4	4	Tlotliso Leotlela	South Africa	0.161	20.59
5	1	Eseosa Desalu	Italy	0.130	20.65
6	7	Teray Smith	Bahamas	0.175	20.66
7	2	Didier Kiki	Benin	0.152	22.27
–	5	Miguel Francis	Antigua and Barbuda	—	DNS
				Wind: 0.0 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Justin Gatlin	United States	0.154	20.42	Q
2	6	Matteo Galvan	Italy	0.171	20.58	Q
3	5	Ramon Gittens	Barbados	0.144	20.58
4	2	Serhiy Smelyk	Ukraine	0.182	20.66
5	7	Aleixo-Platini Menga	Germany	0.136	20.80
6	8	Kenji Fujimitsu	Japan	0.159	20.86
7	3	Yancarlos Martínez	Dominican Republic	0.132	22.97
				Wind: –1.5 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Nickel Ashmeade	Jamaica	0.124	20.15	Q
2	2	Adam Gemili	Great Britain	0.153	20.20	Q
3	8	Clarence Munyai	South Africa	0.148	20.66
4	4	Burkheart Ellis	Barbados	0.186	20.74
5	1	Alex Hartmann	Australia	0.169	21.02
6	7	Tatenda Tsumba	Zimbabwe	0.159	21.04
7	6	Rolando Palacios	Honduras	0.187	21.32
8	3	Theo Piniau	Papua New Guinea	0.175	22.14
				Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	8	Nery Brenes	Costa Rica	0.178	20.20	Q, NR
2	3	Churandy Martina	Netherlands	0.150	20.29	Q
3	4	Brendon Rodney	Canada	0.169	20.34
4	6	Davide Manenti	Italy	0.145	20.51
5	7	Adama Jammeh	The Gambia	0.182	20.55
6	5	Harold Houston	Bermuda	0.117	20.85
7	1	Fabrice Dabla	Togo	0.156	21.63
–	2	Mike Mokamba Nyang'au	Kenya	—	DNS
				Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 8

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	3	LaShawn Merritt	United States	0.162	20.15	Q
2	2	Christophe Lemaitre	France	0.171	20.28	Q
3	4	Julian Reus	Germany	0.138	20.39	SB
4	7	Reynier Mena	Cuba	0.123	20.42
5	8	Karol Zalewski	Poland	0.151	20.54
6	6	Bruno de Barros	Brazil	0.154	20.59
7	5	Ihor Bodrov	Ukraine	0.180	20.86
8	1	Carvin Nkanata	Kenya	0.213	21.43
				Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 9

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	0.177	20.28	Q
2	8	Ejowvokoghene Oduduru	Nigeria	0.141	20.34	Q, PB
3	3	Solomon Bockarie	Netherlands	0.136	20.42	SB
4	7	Kyle Greaux	Trinidad and Tobago	0.147	20.61	SB
5	4	Jonathan Borlée	Belgium	0.162	20.64
6	2	Kei Takase	Japan	0.153	20.71
7	1	Ahmed Ali	Sudan	0.153	20.78
	6	Jaysuma Saidy Ndure	Norway	0.150
				Wind: +0.6 m/s

Heat 10

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Andre De Grasse	Canada	0.137	20.09	Q, SB
2	1	Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake	Great Britain	0.146	20.24	Q
3	7	Rondel Sorrillo	Trinidad and Tobago	0.124	20.27	q, SB
4	8	Hua Wilfried Koffi	Ivory Coast	0.159	20.48	SB
5	6	Antoine Adams	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.141	20.49
6	3	Stanly del Carmen	Dominican Republic	0.133	20.55
7	2	Aldemir da Silva Júnior	Brazil	0.144	20.80
8	4	Brandon Jones	Belize	0.160	21.49	SB
				Wind: +1.0 m/s

Semifinals

Qualification rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	6	LaShawn Merritt	United States	0.166	19.94	Q
2	8	Christophe Lemaitre	France	0.125	20.01	Q, SB
3	7	Daniel Talbot	Great Britain	0.153	20.25	PB
4	4	Nickel Ashmeade	Jamaica	0.134	20.31
5	1	Rondel Sorrillo	Trinidad and Tobago	0.132	20.33
6	3	Nery Brenes	Costa Rica	0.165	20.33
7	2	Aaron Brown	Canada	0.173	20.37
8	5	José Carlos Herrera	Mexico	0.150	20.48
				Wind: −0.4 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	4	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	0.156	19.78	Q, SB
2	5	Andre De Grasse	Canada	0.130	19.80	Q, NR
3	6	Adam Gemili	Great Britain	0.142	20.08	q
4	8	Ramil Guliyev	Turkey	0.157	20.09	q, SB
5	2	Ameer Webb	United States	0.192	20.43
5	3	Salem Eid Yaqoob	Bahrain	0.143	20.43
7	7	Ejowvokoghene Oduduru	Nigeria	0.147	20.59
8	1	Roberto Skyers	Cuba	0.156	20.60
				Wind: −0.3 m/s

Semifinal 3

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Time	Notes
1	5	Alonso Edward	Panama	0.140	20.07	Q
2	8	Churandy Martina	Netherlands	0.147	20.10	Q, SB
3	2	Justin Gatlin	United States	0.137	20.13
4	4	Bruno Hortelano	Spain	0.142	20.16
5	7	Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake	Great Britain	0.196	20.25
6	6	Yohan Blake	Jamaica	0.151	20.37
7	1	Lykourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas	Greece	0.159	20.63
8	3	Matteo Galvan	Italy	0.149	20.88
				Wind: −0.2 m/s

Final

Mid- straightaway, 200 metres final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Reaction	Time	Notes
	6	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	0.156	19.78	SB
	4	Andre De Grasse	Canada	0.141	20.02
	7	Christophe Lemaitre	France	0.153	20.12	.116
4	2	Adam Gemili	Great Britain	0.178	20.12	.119
5	8	Churandy Martina	Netherlands	0.148	20.13	.122
6	5	LaShawn Merritt	United States	0.189	20.19
7	3	Alonso Edward	Panama	0.162	20.23
8	1	Ramil Guliyev	Turkey	0.141	20.49
				Wind: −0.5 m/s