Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres
The men's 200 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 7–9 August.
The semi-final round showed all three Jamaican athletes were the class of the field. In heat one, Yohan Blake had a huge lead and relaxed down the straightaway, almost too much as Wallace Spearmon and Christophe Lemaitre raced to the line behind him in the fastest heat of the day. Usain Bolt dominated the second heat, jogging and looking around for non-existent challengers down the straight. And in heat three, Warren Weir was running easily, easing up at the finish to let Churandy Martina take the first spot, knowing he had qualified in the second position. Slowest qualifier Álex Quiñónez, racing hard for his 20.37, was on the opposite side of a clear dividing line in the field.
In the final, Bolt, who was in lane 7, moved past his Jamaican teammate Weir after only 50 metres; coming off the bend and onto the final 100-metre straight, Bolt's lead over the rest of the field had grown to several metres, however Blake began to pull him back. Due to the lead he had built in the first 120 meters, it was Bolt who crossed the line first in a time of 19.32, already easing off before the line. In doing so, he became the first man in history to do the "double double" – winning both the 100 and 200 metres twice, back to back. Blake took the silver medal, as he had done in the 100 metres final, again behind Bolt. His time was the fastest ever time to not win a gold medal. Weir completed the 1–2–3 sweep for the Jamaicans by winning the bronze medal, the second time in any international competition that Jamaica has achieved this.
Bolt's time of 19.32 was coincidentally the time he had beaten when he first broke the 200 metres world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics 200 metres.
The final was only the third time since 1928 that the United States failed to win a medal in the men's 200 metres, Wallace Spearmon finishing fourth with a time of 19.90, 0.06 seconds outside of a medal placing.
Competition format
The Men's 200m competition consisted of heats, Semifinals and a Final. The fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the Semifinals along with the fastest overall competitors not already qualified that were required to fill the available spaces in the Semifinals. A total of eight competitors qualified for the Final from the Semifinals.Records
, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.The following new National records were set during the competition.
| Swaziland national record | 20.93 s | |
| Ecuador national record | 20.28 s |
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time| Date | Time | Round |
| Tuesday, 7 August 2012 | 11:50 | Round 1 |
| Wednesday, 8 August 2012 | 20:10 | Semifinals |
| Thursday, 9 August 2012 | 20:55 | Finals |
Results
Round 1
Q = qualified by place; q = qualified by time; WR = world record; OR = Olympic record; WL = world leading; NR = national record; PB = personal best; SB = season bestQual. rule: first 3 of each heat plus the 3 fastest times qualified.
Heat 1
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Usain Bolt | 20.39 | Q | |
| 2 | Aldemir da Silva Junior | 20.53 | Q | |
| 3 | Isiah Young | 20.55 | Q | |
| 4 | Alex Wilson | 20.57 | q | |
| 5 | Noah Akwu | 20.67 | ||
| 6 | Michael Herrera | 21.05 | ||
| 7 | Vyacheslav Muravyev | 21.75 | ||
| 8 | Jidou El Moctar | 22.94 | PB |
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Christophe Lemaitre | 20.34 | Q | |
| 2 | Anaso Jobodwana | 20.46 | Q | |
| 3 | Aaron Brown | 20.55 | Q, PB | |
| 4 | Likoúrgos-Stéfanos Tsákonas | 20.56 | q | |
| 5 | Rondel Sorrillo | 20.76 | ||
| 6 | Carlos Jorge | 21.02 | ||
| 7 | Cristián Reyes | 21.29 | ||
| 8 | Ibrahim Turay | 21.90 | PB |
Heat 3
Heat 4
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Yohan Blake | 20.38 | Q | |
| 2 | Bruno de Barros | 20.52 | Q | |
| 3 | Jaysuma Saidy Ndure | 20.52 | Q | |
| 4 | Serhiy Smelyk | 20.65 | ||
| 5 | Paul Hession | 20.69 | ||
| 6 | Xie Zhenye | 20.69 | ||
| 7 | Mosito Lehata | 20.74 |
Heat 5
Heat 6
Heat 7
Semifinals
Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat plus the 2 fastest times qualified.Heat 1
Heat 2
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Usain Bolt | 20.18 | Q | |
| 2 | Anaso Jobodwana | 20.27 | Q, PB | |
| 3 | Álex Quiñónez | 20.37 | q | |
| 4 | Aaron Brown | 20.42 | PB | |
| 5 | Aldemir da Silva Junior | 20.63 | ||
| 6 | Kamil Krynski | 20.83 | ||
| 7 | Alex Wilson | 20.85 | ||
| 8 | Isiah Young | 20.89 |