# Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres

The Women's 200 metres competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was held at the Olympic Stadium on 26–28 July. The winning margin was 0.02 seconds.

## Competition format

The Women's 200m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Quarterfinals, Semifinals and a Final. The five fastest competitors from each race in the heats plus the next two fastest overall qualified for the Quarterfinals. The four fastest competitors from each of the Quarterfinal races qualified for the Semifinals, where again the four fastest runners from each heat advanced to the final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Irena Szewińska (POL) | 22.21 | Potsdam, East Germany | 13 June 1974 |
| Olympic record | Renate Stecher (GDR) | 22.40 | Munich, East Germany | 7 September 1972 |

## Results
### Round 1

Qual. rule: first 5 of each heat (Q) plus the two fastest times (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 23.17 | Q |
| 2 | Denise Boyd | Australia | 23.23 | Q |
| 3 | Rosie Allwood | Jamaica | 23.34 | Q |
| 4 | Marjorie Bailey | Canada | 23.36 | Q |
| 5 | Annegret Kroniger | West Germany | 23.43 | Q |
| 6 | Beverley Goddard | Great Britain | 23.64 | q |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bärbel Eckert | East Germany | 23.78 | Q |
| 2 | Sue Jowett | New Zealand | 24.12 | Q |
| 3 | Joanne McTaggert | Canada | 24.35 | Q |
| 4 | Freida Nicholls-Davy | Barbados | 24.45 | Q |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Raelene Boyle | Australia | 23.12 | Q |
| 2 | Nadezhda Besfamilnaya | Soviet Union | 23.39 | Q |
| 3 | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 23.47 | Q |
| 4 | Chantal Réga | France | 23.54 | Q |
| 5 | Silvia Schinzel | Austria | 23.74 | Q |
| 6 | Silvina Pereira da Silva | Brazil | 24.00 | |
| 7 | Carolina Rieuwpassa | Indonesia | 24.86 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Debra Armstrong | United States | 23.18 | Q |
| 2 | Catherine Delachanal | France | 23.38 | Q |
| 3 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 23.40 | Q |
| 4 | Lyudmila Maslakova | Soviet Union | 23.51 | Q |
| 5 | Lea Alaerts | Belgium | 23.53 | Q |
| 6 | Helen Golden | Great Britain | 23.77 | q |
| 7 | Helen Ritter | Liechtenstein | 26.15 | |
| 8 | Marie-Louise Pierre | Haiti | 28.19 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carla Bodendorf | East Germany | 22.98 | Q |
| 2 | Jackie Pusey | Jamaica | 23.56 | Q |
| 3 | Debbie Wells | Australia | 23.78 | Q |
| 4 | Ildikó Erdélyi | Hungary | 24.35 | Q |
| 5 | Mona-Lisa Pursiainen | Finland | 24.52 | Q |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 22.75 | Q |
| 2 | Tatyana Prorochenko | Soviet Union | 23.21 | Q |
| 3 | Patty Loverock | Canada | 23.34 | Q |
| 4 | Liliyana Panayotova-Ivanova | Bulgaria | 23.49 | Q |
| 5 | Carol Cummings | Jamaica | 23.50 | Q |
| 6 | Divina Estrella | Dominican Republic | 24.95 | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carla Bodendorf | East Germany | 23.20 | Q |
| 2 | Debra Armstrong | United States | 23.20 | Q |
| 3 | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 23.35 | Q |
| 4 | Nadezhda Besfamilnaya | Soviet Union | 23.48 | Q |
| 5 | Debbie Wells | Australia | 23.65 | |
| 6 | Lea Alaerts | Belgium | 23.80 | |
| 7 | Liliyana Panayotova-Ivanova | Bulgaria | 23.87 | |
| 8 | Sue Jowett | New Zealand | 24.23 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Raelene Boyle | Australia | 22.97 | Q |
| 2 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 23.09 | Q |
| 3 | Tatyana Prorochenko | Soviet Union | 23.11 | Q |
| 4 | Chantal Réga | France | 23.33 | Q |
| 5 | Rosie Allwood | Jamaica | 23.40 | |
| 6 | Beverley Goddard | Great Britain | 23.74 | |
| 7 | Mona-Lisa Pursiainen | Finland | 24.10 | |
| 8 | Joanne McTaggert | Canada | 24.47 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 23.04 | Q |
| 2 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 23.19 | Q |
| 3 | Marjorie Bailey | Canada | 23.24 | Q |
| 4 | Jackie Pusey | Jamaica | 23.42 | Q |
| 5 | Catherine Delachanal | France | 23.65 | |
| 6 | Silvia Schinzel | Austria | 23.95 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bärbel Eckert | East Germany | 22.85 | Q |
| 2 | Patty Loverock | Canada | 23.03 | Q, NR |
| 3 | Denise Boyd | Australia | 23.12 | Q |
| 4 | Carol Cummings | Jamaica | 23.45 | Q |
| 5 | Lyudmila Maslakova | Soviet Union | 23.63 | |
| 6 | Helen Golden | Great Britain | 23.94 | |
| 7 | Freida Nicholls-Davy | Barbados | 24.27 | |

### Semifinals
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 22.68 | Q |
| 2 | Carla Bodendorf | East Germany | 22.84 | Q |
| 3 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 22.97 | Q |
| 4 | Tatyana Prorochenko | Soviet Union | 23.03 | Q |
| 5 | Marjorie Bailey | Canada | 23.06 | |
| 6 | Debra Armstrong | United States | 23.16 | |
| 7 | Carol Cummings | Jamaica | 23.41 | |
| — | Raelene Boyle | Australia | DSQ | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Bärbel Eckert | East Germany | 22.71 | Q |
| 2 | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 22.90 | Q |
| 3 | Denise Boyd | Australia | 22.91 | Q |
| 4 | Chantal Réga | France | 23.00 | Q |
| 5 | Patty Loverock | Canada | 23.09 | |
| 6 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 23.20 | |
| 7 | Jackie Pusey | Jamaica | 23.31 | |
| 8 | Nadezhda Besfamilnaya | Soviet Union | 23.38 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Bärbel Eckert | East Germany | 22.37 | OR |
| | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 22.39 | |
| | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 22.47 | |
| 4 | Carla Bodendorf | East Germany | 22.64 | |
| 5 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 22.68 | |
| 6 | Tatyana Prorochenko | Soviet Union | 23.03 | |
| 7 | Denise Boyd | Australia | 23.05 | |
| 8 | Chantal Réga | France | 23.09 | |