The men's 200 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held at Stadium Australia on Wednesday 27 September and Thursday 28 September 2000 as part of the athletics programme. 67 competitors from 50 nations took part with Konstantinos Kenteris of Greece taking the victory and winning the nation's first medal in the event. Darren Campbell's silver was Great Britain's first men's 200 metres medal since 1980 and matched the nation's best result in the event (third silver with no golds). Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago repeated as bronze medalist, the ninth man to earn multiple medals in the 200 metres.

Background

This was the 23rd appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Two of the eight finalists from the 1996 Games returned: bronze medalist Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago and fourth-place finisher Obadele Thompson of Barbados. Boldon had won the 1997 World Championship; Maurice Greene of the United States won in 1999. Neither Greene nor reigning Olympic champion and world record holder Michael Johnson, both suffering from minor injuries, made the U.S. team in the 200 metres (though they did in other events).

Dominica, Kazakhstan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Slovakia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 22nd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics took place between 1 January 1999 to 11 September 2000. For the men's 200 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 20.70 seconds or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 20.90 seconds or faster could be entered.

The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

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 in the heats.

There were 9 heats of 7 or 8 runners each, with the top 3 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 5 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. The top 4 athletes in each semifinal advanced. The final had 8 runners. The races were run on a 400-metre track.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the Olympics.

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round Wednesday, 27 September 2000 10:0519:30 HeatsQuarterfinals Thursday, 28 September 2000 18:2020:20 SemifinalsFinal

Results

All times shown are in seconds.

Heats

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 1 Francis Obikwelu 0.201 20.76 2 8 Stéphan Buckland 0.269 20.81 3 5 Renward Wells 0.147 20.95 4 6 John Ertzgaard 0.154 21.00 5 3 Sayon Cooper 0.261 21.10 6 4 Albert Agyemang 0.240 21.22 7 7 Jayson Jones 0.163 22.20 — 2 Mohamed Mahbub Alam 0.240 Wind: −0.3 m/s

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 7 Floyd Heard 0.167 20.68 2 4 Koji Ito 0.191 20.75 , 3 8 Tommi Hartonen 0.187 20.82 4 5 Petko Yankov 0.152 20.91 5 2 Darryl Wohlsen 0.161 20.98 6 6 Pierre Browne 0.258 21.28 – 3 Tanko Braimah 0.192 Wind: −0.2 m/s

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 2 Ato Boldon 0.157 20.52 2 5 Kim Collins 0.175 20.52 3 4 Marcin Urbaś 0.152 20.62 4 7 Geir Moen 0.160 20.76 5 8 Gidon Jablonka 0.185 20.92 6 3 Gennadiy Chernovol 0.190 20.95 — 6 Alexios Alexopoulos — Wind: +0.5 m/s

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Coby Miller 0.182 20.49 2 4 Darren Campbell 0.194 20.71 3 5 Uchenna Emedolu 0.179 20.87 4 7 Ahmed Douhou 0.169 20.98 5 2 Ricardo Williams 0.289 21.09 6 8 Julieon Raeburn 0.326 21.21 7 3 Keita Cline 0.199 21.42 Wind: +0.2 m/s

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Konstantinos Kenteris 0.179 20.57 2 5 Anninos Marcoullides 0.190 20.83 3 2 Marlon Devonish 0.178 20.89 4 3 André da Silva 0.237 20.95 5 8 Aleksandr Ryabov 0.216 21.02 6 7 Marián Vanderka 0.254 21.28 7 4 Ali Khamis Rashid Al-Neyadi 0.280 21.93 8 1 Christie van Wyk 0.147 46.57 Wind: +0.3 m/s

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Christopher Williams 0.189 20.45 2 1 Shingo Suetsugu 0.184 20.60 3 7 Venancio José 0.179 20.95 4 3 Martin Lachkovics 0.163 21.00 5 4 Andrew Tynes 0.169 21.00 6 6 Jimmy Pino 0.179 21.42 7 8 Pascal Dangbo 0.158 21.54 8 2 Maqsood Ahmad 0.181 21.70 Wind: −0.4 m/s

Heat 7

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 Obadele Thompson 0.192 20.69 2 8 Joseph Batangdon 0.176 20.70 3 6 Antoine Boussombo 0.161 20.78 4 3 Matt Shirvington 0.168 20.91 5 1 Carlos Gats 0.181 21.15 6 5 Ricardo Roach 0.154 21.20 7 7 Ezra Kenyoke Sambu 0.377 21.23 8 2 Sherwin James 0.195 22.40 Wind: +0.5 m/s

Heat 8

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 4 John Capel 0.216 20.49 2 6 Christian Malcolm 0.272 20.52 3 5 Alessandro Cavallaro 0.192 20.58 4 8 Héber Viera 0.180 20.82 , 5 2 Patrick Johnson 0.225 20.88 6 7 Anastasios Gousis 0.325 21.10 7 3 Salem M. M. Al Yami 0.261 21.18 Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 9

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Claudinei da Silva 0.176 20.70 2 3 Dwight Thomas 0.192 20.85 3 7 Oumar Loum 0.201 20.87 4 6 Paul Brizzell 0.178 20.98 5 1 Mohamed Al Hooti 0.226 21.19 6 4 Dominic Demeritte 0.167 21.47 7 2 Joseph Loua 0.244 21.60 8 8 N'Kosie Barnes 0.205 21.82 Wind: −1.0 m/s

Heats overall results

Rank Athlete Nation Heat Lane Place Wind Time Qual. Record 1 Christopher Williams 6 5 1 -0.4 20.45 2 John Capel 8 4 1 +0.4 20.49 Coby Miller 4 6 1 +0.2 20.49 4 Ato Boldon 3 2 1 +0.5 20.52 Kim Collins 3 5 2 +0.5 20.52 Christian Malcolm 8 6 2 +0.4 20.52 7 Konstantinos Kenteris 5 6 1 +0.3 20.57 8 Alessandro Cavallaro 8 5 3 +0.4 20.58 9 Shingo Suetsugu 6 1 2 -0.4 20.60 10 Marcin Urbaś 3 4 3 +0.5 20.62 11 Floyd Heard 2 7 1 -0.2 20.68 12 Obadele Thompson 7 4 1 +0.5 20.69 13 Joseph Batangdon 7 8 2 +0.5 20.70 Claudinei da Silva 9 5 1 -0.1 20.70 15 Darren Campbell 4 4 2 +0.2 20.71 16 Koji Ito 2 4 2 -0.2 20.75 17 Francis Obikwelu 1 1 1 -0.3 20.76 Geir Moen 3 7 4 +0.5 20.76 19 Antoine Boussombo 7 6 3 +0.5 20.78 20 Stéphan Buckland 1 8 2 -0.3 20.81 21 Tommi Hartonen 2 8 3 -0.2 20.82 Héber Viera 8 8 4 +0.4 20.82 23 Anninos Marcoullides 5 5 2 +0.3 20.83 24 Dwight Thomas 9 3 2 -0.1 20.85 25 Uchenna Emedolu 4 5 3 +0.2 20.87 Oumar Loum 9 7 3 -0.1 20.87 27 Patrick Johnson 8 2 5 +0.4 20.88 28 Marlon Devonish 5 2 3 +0.3 20.89 29 Matt Shirvington 7 3 4 +0.5 20.91 Petko Yankov 2 5 4 -0.2 20.91 31 Gidon Jablonka 3 8 5 +0.5 20.92 32 Venancio José 6 7 3 -0.4 20.95 Renward Wells 1 5 3 -0.3 20.95 Q Gennadiy Chernovol 3 3 6 +0.5 20.95 André da Silva 5 3 4 +0.3 20.95 36 Paul Brizzell 9 6 4 -0.1 20.98 Ahmed Yves Douhou 4 7 4 +0.2 20.98 Darryl Wohlsen 2 2 5 -0.2 20.98 39 John Ertzgaard 1 6 4 -0.3 21.00 Martin Lachkovics 6 3 4 -0.4 21.00 Andrew Tynes 6 4 5 -0.4 21.00 s 42 Aleksandr Ryabov 5 8 5 +0.3 21.02 43 Ricardo Williams 4 2 5 +0.2 21.09 44 Sayon Cooper 1 3 5 -0.3 21.10 Anastasios Gousis 8 7 6 +0.4 21.10 s 46 Carlos Gats 7 1 5 +0.5 21.15 47 Salem M. M. Al Yami 8 3 7 +0.4 21.18 48 Mohamed Al Hooti 9 1 5 -0.1 21.19 49 Ricardo Roach 7 5 6 +0.5 21.20 50 Julieon Raeburn 4 8 6 +0.2 21.21 51 Albert Agyemang 1 4 6 -0.3 21.22 52 Ezra Kenyoke Sambu 7 7 7 +0.5 21.23 53 Pierre Browne 2 6 6 -0.2 21.28 Marián Vanderka 5 7 6 +0.3 21.28 55 Keita Cline 4 3 7 +0.2 21.42 Jimmy Pino 6 6 6 -0.4 21.42 57 Dominic Demeritte 9 4 6 -0.1 21.47 58 Pascal Dangbo 6 8 7 -0.4 21.54 59 Joseph Loua 9 2 7 -0.1 21.60 60 Maqsood Ahmad 6 2 8 -0.4 21.70 s 61 N'Kosie Barnes 9 8 8 -0.1 21.82 62 Ali K. R. A. Al Neyadi 5 4 7 +0.3 21.93 63 Jayson Jones 1 7 7 -0.3 22.20 64 Sherwin James 7 2 8 +0.5 22.40 s 65 Christie van Wyk 5 1 8 +0.3 46.57 — Tanko Braimah 2 3 - -0.2 Mohammad Mahabub Alam 1 2 - -0.3 Alexios Alexopoulos 3 6 - +0.5

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 3 Darren Campbell 0.175 20.13 , 2 6 Konstantinos Kenteris 0.203 20.14 , 3 4 Ato Boldon 0.160 20.28 4 5 Shingo Suetsugu 0.182 20.37 5 8 Marcin Urbaś 0.159 20.43 6 7 Geir Moen 0.165 20.65 7 2 Antoine Boussombo 0.163 20.71 8 1 Héber Viera 0.196 20.97 Wind: +0.3 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 6 Obadele Thompson 0.195 20.16 2 3 Coby Miller 0.239 20.37 3 4 Kim Collins 0.171 20.47 4 5 Koji Ito 0.208 20.56 , 5 8 Dwight Thomas 0.206 20.58 6 2 Petko Yankov 0.169 20.75 7 7 Venancio José 0.182 20.79 8 1 Uchenna Emedolu 0.195 20.93 Wind: −0.0 m/s

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 John Capel 0.169 20.13 2 3 Christian Malcolm 0.196 20.19 , 3 4 Claudinei da Silva 0.139 20.24 4 8 Tommi Hartonen 0.179 20.47 , 5 6 Joseph Batangdon 0.247 20.55 6 3 Alessandro Cavallaro 0.190 20.95 7 7 Patrick Johnson 0.252 20.87 8 2 Renward Wells 0.162 21.26 Wind: −0.2 m/s

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Floyd Heard 0.173 20.24 2 4 Christopher Williams 0.187 20.25 3 6 Francis Obikwelu 0.195 20.33 4 3 Stéphan Buckland 0.237 20.53 5 1 Oumar Loum 0.186 20.60 6 8 Anninos Marcoullides 0.196 20.71 7 7 Marlon Devonish 0.163 20.82 — 2 Matt Shirvington – Wind: +0.4 m/s

Quarterfinals overall results

Rank Athlete Nation Heat Lane Place Wind Time Qual. Record 1 Darren Campbell 1 3 1 +0.3 20.13 John Capel 3 5 1 -0.2 20.13 3 Konstantinos Kenteris 1 6 2 +0.3 20.14 4 Obadele Thompson 2 6 1 +0.0 20.16 5 Christian Malcolm 3 3 2 -0.2 20.19 6 Floyd Heard 4 5 1 +0.4 20.24 Claudinei da Silva 3 4 3 -0.2 20.24 8 Christopher Williams 4 4 2 +0.4 20.25 9 Ato Boldon 1 4 3 +0.3 20.28 10 Francis Obikwelu 3 4 3 +0.5 20.33 11 Coby Miller 2 3 2 +0.0 20.37 Shingo Suetsugu 1 5 4 +0.3 20.37 13 Marcin Urbaś 1 8 5 +0.3 20.43 14 Kim Collins 2 4 3 +0.0 20.47 Tommi Hartonen 3 8 4 -0.2 20.47 16 Stéphan Buckland 4 3 4 +0.4 20.53 17 Joseph Batangdon 3 6 5 -0.2 20.55 18 Koji Ito 2 5 4 +0.0 20.56 19 Dwight Thomas 2 8 5 +0.0 20.58 20 Oumar Loum 4 1 5 +0.4 20.60 21 Geir Moen 1 7 6 +0.3 20.65 22 Alessandro Cavallaro 3 1 6 -0.2 20.69 23 Antoine Boussombo 1 2 7 +0.3 20.71 Anninos Marcoullides 4 8 6 +0.4 20.71 25 Petko Yankov 2 2 6 +0.0 20.75 26 Venancio José 2 7 7 -0.0 20.79 27 Marlon Devonish 4 7 7 +0.4 20.82 28 Patrick Johnson 3 7 7 -0.2 20.87 29 Uchenna Emedolu 2 1 8 +0.0 20.93 30 Héber Viera 1 1 8 +0.3 20.97 31 Renward Wells 3 2 8 -0.2 21.26 — Matt Shirvington 4 2 +0.4

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 3 John Capel 0.177 20.10 2 6 Christian Malcolm 0.161 20.19 3 8 Ato Boldon 0.147 20.20 4 5 Obadele Thompson 0.199 20.21 5 4 Christopher Williams 0.197 20.47 6 4 Stéphan Buckland 0.197 20.56 7 7 Francis Obikwelu 0.241 20.71 8 2 Tommi Hartonen 0.170 20.88 Wind: −1.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 1 5 Konstantinos Kenteris 0.200 20.20 2 3 Darren Campbell 0.234 20.23 3 7 Claudinei da Silva 0.196 20.30 4 4 Coby Miller 0.174 20.45 5 1 Kim Collins 0.177 20.57 6 6 Floyd Heard 0.169 20.63 7 8 Koji Ito 0.212 20.67 8 2 Shingo Suetsugu 0.177 20.69 Wind: +0.3 m/s

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes 5 Konstantinos Kenteris 0.163 20.09 6 Darren Campbell 0.174 20.14 8 Ato Boldon 0.163 20.20 4 7 Obadele Thompson 0.205 20.20 5 3 Christian Malcolm 0.202 20.23 6 1 Claudinei da Silva 0.192 20.28 7 2 Coby Miller 0.185 20.35 8 4 John Capel 0.348 20.49 Wind: −0.6 m/s

References

Source: Official Report of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics available at https://web.archive.org/web/20080522105330/http://www.la84foundation.org/5va/reports_frmst.htm