Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

Men's 200 metres
at the Games of the VII Olympiad
Men's 200 metres; at the Games of the VII Olympiad
	The finish of the final, with Allen Woodring beating Charley Paddock
Venue	Olympisch Stadion
Dates	August 19 (round 1 & quarterfinals); August 20 (semifinals & final)
Competitors	48 from 22 nations
Winning time	22.0
Medalists
	← 1912 1924 →

The men's 200 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Thursday, August 19, 1920, and on Friday, August 20, 1920. Forty-eight sprinters from 22 nations competed.^[1] Nations were limited to 4 athletes each, down from the 12 allowed in previous Games. The event was won by Allen Woodring of the United States, the nation's second consecutive victory in the event and fourth in five Games. Fellow American Charley Paddock took silver. Great Britain reached the podium for a second consecutive Games with Harry Edward's bronze.

Background

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. None of the finalists from the pre-war 1912 Games returned. The favorite was Charley Paddock, winner of the U.S. trials and the 1919 Inter-Allied Championships. The strongest non-American competitor was Harry Edward of Great Britain, the 1920 AAA champion.^[2]

Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Luxembourg, Monaco, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland each made their debut in the event. The United States made its fifth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

Competition format

The competition expanded to four rounds: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats of between 3 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 5 heats of between 4 and 5 athletes each; the two fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 5 runners. In that round, the top three athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners.^[2]

The race was run on a 390-metre track that was wet and soft.^[2]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World record	Willie Applegarth (GBR)^*	21.2	London, United Kingdom	4 July 1914
Olympic record	Archie Hahn (USA)^**	21.6	St. Louis, United States	31 August 1904^[3]

^* unofficial 220 yards (= 201.17 m)

^** straight course

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

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 19 August 1920	14:00 16:00	Round 1 Quarterfinals
Friday, 20 August 1920	14:45 16:00	Semifinals Final

Results

Times were generally only published for the winners of each heat. Some of the times listed below are estimates based on contemporary reports of the races.^[4]

Round 1

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	René Tirard	France	23.2	Q
2	Agne Holmström	Sweden	23.3	Q
3	Diego Ordóñez	Spain	23.7
4	Shinichi Yamaoka	Japan	23.9
5	Bjarne Guldager	Norway

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Davidson	New Zealand	22.6	Q
2	Alexander Ponton	Canada	22.8	Q
3	Félix Mendizábal	Spain	23.2
4	Harry van Rappard	Netherlands	23.7

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Vojtěch Plzák	Czechoslovakia	23.4	Q
2	William Hill	Great Britain	23.8	Q
3	Marcel Gustin	Belgium	24.3

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Paul Brochart	Belgium	23.2	Q
2	William Hunt	Australia	23.5	Q
3	Giovanni Orlandi	Italy	23.8
4	Paul Hammer	Luxembourg	24.0
5	Federico Reparez	Spain

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Robert Caste	France	23.0	Q
2	Harold Abrahams	Great Britain	23.3	Q
3	Willie Bukes	South Africa	23.4
4	Rolf Stenersen	Norway	23.8

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Charley Paddock	United States	23.2	Q
2	August Sørensen	Denmark	23.8	Q
3	Victor d'Arcy	Great Britain	24.0
4	Ahmed Khairy	Egypt

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Sven Krokström	Sweden	23.8	Q
2	Max Houben	Belgium	24.2	Q
3	Dimitrios Karambatis	Greece	24.2

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Loren Murchison	United States	23.2	Q
2	Nils Sandström	Sweden	23.6	Q
3	Carlos Pajarón	Spain	24.2
4	August Waibel	Switzerland

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Allen Woodring	United States	22.8	Q
2	Cor Wezepoel	Netherlands	23.3	Q
3	Francis Irvine	South Africa	23.3
4	Ichiro Kaga	Japan
5	Edmond Médécin	Monaco

Heat 10

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Harry Edward	Great Britain	22.8	Q
2	Jack Oosterlaak	South Africa	23.2	Q
3	Sven Malm	Sweden	23.3
4	Mario Riccobono	Italy
5	Reinhold Saulmann	Estonia	25.4

Heat 11

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	René Lorain	France	25.0	Q
2	Albert Heijnneman	Netherlands	25.4	Q
3	Cyril Coaffee	Canada

Heat 12

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Morris Kirksey	United States	23.4	Q
2	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	23.5	Q
3	Jean-René Seurin	France	23.6

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Loren Murchison	United States	22.8	Q
2	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	23.1	Q
3	René Tirard	France	23.2
4	August Sørensen	Denmark

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Harry Edward	Great Britain	22.0	Q
2	Allen Woodring	United States	22.1	Q
3	Robert Caste	France	22.2
4	William Hunt	Australia	22.4
5	Agne Holmström	Sweden	22.5

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	George Davidson	New Zealand	22.8	Q
2	Charley Paddock	United States	22.9	Q
3	René Lorain	France	23.0
4	Nils Sandström	Sweden	23.3
5	Max Houben	Belgium

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Morris Kirksey	United States	22.6	Q
2	Alexander Ponton	Canada	22.7	Q
3	Harold Abrahams	Great Britain	23.0
4	Vojtěch Plzák	Czechoslovakia	23.1
5	Cor Wezepoel	Netherlands	23.3

Quarterfinal 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Jack Oosterlaak	South Africa	23.0	Q
2	Paul Brochart	Belgium	23.2	Q
3	William Hill	Great Britain	23.2
4	Sven Krokström	Sweden	23.3
—	Albert Heijnneman	Netherlands	DNF

Semifinals

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Loren Murchison	United States	22.4	Q
2	Harry Edward	Great Britain	22.5	Q
3	George Davidson	New Zealand	22.5	Q
4	Morris Kirksey	United States	22.5
—	Paul Brochert	Belgium	DNS

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Allen Woodring	United States	22.4	Q
2	Charley Paddock	United States	22.5	Q
3	Jack Oosterlaak	South Africa	22.7	Q
4	Alexandre Penton	Canada	22.9
—	Josef Imbach	Switzerland	DNF

Final

Rank	Lane	Athlete	Nation	Time
	3	Allen Woodring	United States	22.0
	4	Charley Paddock	United States	22.0
	5	Harry Edward	Great Britain	22.2
4	6	Loren Murchison	United States	22.2
5	1	George Davidson	New Zealand	22.3
6	2	Jack Oosterlaak	South Africa	22.3

References

^ "Athletics at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games: Men's 200 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c "200 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
^ Mallon, Bill (2012). "Track & Field Athletics – Olympic Record Progressions" (PDF). Track and Field News. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
^ "Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 3 June 2021.