Summer Olympics: 200m winning times 1900-2020

The 200 meter sprint has been included as a men's event in all Olympic Games since Paris 1900, and a women's 200 meter event was introduced in London 1948. In the early 1900s, the 200m sprint was often held on a straight track (similar to the 100m sprint), but it has been in it's current format since the 1950s, where the first half of the race is along the curve of a 400m running track, while the second half is along a 100m stretch. Athletes from the U.S. have had the most success in these events, winning 17 golds and 48 overall medals in the men's, and six golds in the women's; however, the past two decades have seen Jamaica emerge as the most dominant nation, with Jamaican women now tied with U.S. athletes on 13 overall medals.

Record breakers

Between 1900 and 2004, no male athlete won multiple Olympic golds in the event, however Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who holds the Olympic and world records, claimed gold in 2008, 2012 and 2016, as part of his "triple triple". In the women's event, three women have won the 200m gold twice; Bärbel Eckert-Wöckel in 1976 and 1980 for East Germany, Veronica Campbell-Brown in 2004 and 2008 for Jamaica, and Elaine Thompson-Herah in 2016 and 2020, also for Jamaica. The women's Olympic and world record was set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in the Seoul Games in 1988 (where she also set the record in the 100m sprint) both of these records still stand today.

Doing the double

The 200m sprint attracts many competitors from the 100m sprint, with eleven men and eight women winning gold in both events in the same Olympics; with many also winning team golds in the 4x100m relay. Valerie Brisco-Hooks in 1984, along with Michael Johnson and Marie-José Pérec in 1996, are the only athletes to have won gold in both the 200m and 400m races at the same Olympics. Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis (both from Alabama) are the only athletes to have won the "sprint-jump quadruple"; winning golds in the 100m, 4x100m relay, 200m and long jump in the 1936 and 1984 Games respectively.

Gold medal winning times in the Men's and Women's 200m Sprint at the Summer Olympics from 1900 to 2020 (in seconds)

Year	Men	Women
Tokyo 2020	19.62	21.53
Rio 2016	19.78	21.78
London 2012	19.32	21.88
Beijing 2008	19.3	21.74
Athens 2004	19.79	22.06
Sydney 2000	20.09	22.27
Atlanta 1996	19.32	22.12
Barcelona 1992	20.01	21.81
Seoul 1988	19.75	21.34
Los Angeles 1984	19.8	21.81
Moscow 1980	20.19	22.03
Montreal 1976	20.23	22.37
Munich 1972	20	22.4
Mexico City 1968	19.8	22.5
Tokyo 1964	20.3	23
Rome 1960	20.5	24
Melbourne 1956	20.6	23.4
Helsinki 1952	20.7	23.7
London 1948	21.1	24.4
Berlin 1936	20.7	-
Los Angeles 1932	21.2	-
Amsterdam 1928	21.8	-
Paris 1924	21.6	-
Antwerp 1920	22	-
Stockholm 1912	21.7	-
London 1908	22.6	-
St. Louis 1904	21.6	-
Paris 1900	22.2	-

Loading statistic...

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Sources

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

2021

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1900 to 2021

Supplementary notes

This data was collected using the official Olympic.org site, as well as a spreadsheet from the Guardian that includes data from 1896-2008 (available here), 2012 and 2016 data was compared with that from Encyclopaedia Britannica, and several news outlets were used to update the table when medals were reassigned (i.e. for doping offenses).

The winning athletes (male listed first) and their represented countries are as follows:
1900 - Walter Tewksbury (U.S.)
1904 - Archie Hahn (U.S.)
1908 - Robert Kerr (Canada)
1912 - Ralph Craig (U.S.)
1920 - Allen Woodring (U.S.)
1924 - Jackson Scholz (U.S.)
1928 - Percy Williams (Canada)
1932 - Eddie Tolan (U.S.)
1936 - Jesse Owens (U.S.)
1948 - Mel Patton (U.S.) & Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands)
1952 - Andy Stanfield (U.S.) & Marjorie Jackson (Australia)
1956 - Bobby Morrow (U.S.) & Betty Cuthbert (Australia)
1960 - Livio Berruti (Italy) & Wilma Rudolph (U.S.)
1964 - Henry Carr (U.S.) & Edith McGuire (U.S.)
1968 - Tommie Smith (U.S.) & Irena Kirszenstein (Poland)
1972 - Valeriy Borzov (USSR) & Renate Stecher (East Germany)
1976 - Donald Quarrie (Jamaica) & Bärbel Eckert-Wöckel (East Germany)
1980 - Pietro Mennea (Italy) & Bärbel Eckert-Wöckel (East Germany)
1984 - Carl Lewis (U.S.) & Valerie Brisco (U.S.)
1988 - Joe Deloach (U.S.) & Florence Griffith Joyner (U.S.)
1992 - Michael Marsh (U.S.) & Gwen Torrence (U.S.)
1996 - Michael Johnson (U.S.) & Marie-José Pérec (France)
2000 - Kostas Kenteris (Greece) & Pauline Davis (Bahamas)
2004 - Shawn Crawford (U.S.) & Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica)
2008 - Usain Bolt (Jamaica) & Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica)
2012 - Usain Bolt (Jamaica) & Allyson Felix (U.S.)
2016 - Usain Bolt (Jamaica) & Elaine Thompson (Jamaica)
2020 - Andre de Grasse (Canada) & Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)