# Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States had an entry list of 76 competitors from 58 nations, with ten qualifying heats (76), four quarterfinals (32), and two semifinals (16) before the final (8) took off on Wednesday August 8, 1984. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.16 seconds by Carl Lewis of the United States (clocking the then-third fastest time in history), the nation's first victory in the men's 200 metres since 1968 and 13th overall. It was the third gold medal of the Games for Lewis, who was attempting to match Jesse Owens in winning the 100, 200, long jump, and 4x100 relay; his victory in this event left only the relay to go, in which the United States was heavily favored. The American team competed in a medal sweep in this event, the first since 1956 and the fifth overall for the United States, with Kirk Baptiste earning silver and Thomas Jefferson taking bronze.

## Background

This was the 19th 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 1980 Games returned: gold medalist (and 1972 bronze medalist and 1976 finalist) Pietro Mennea of Italy and bronze medalist (and 1976 gold medalist) Don Quarrie of Jamaica. The favorite was Carl Lewis of the United States, attempting to win four golds, with his teammates Kirk Baptiste and Thomas Jefferson his biggest challengers. The Soviet-led boycott had little effect on this event, with none of the top 200 metres runners in 1984 being from boycotting nations.
Algeria, Bangladesh, the British Virgin Islands, the People's Republic of China, Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Indonesia, Mali, Mauritius, the Netherlands Antilles, Oman, Qatar, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 18th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

## 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 10 heats of 8 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 3 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 2 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 8 athletes each (again, before withdrawals); the 4 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 8 runners. Again, the top 4 athletes 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 1984 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Pietro Mennea (ITA) | 19.72 | Mexico City, Mexico | 12 September 1979 |
| Olympic record | Tommie Smith (USA) | 19.83 | Mexico City, Mexico | 16 October 1968 |
In the final Carl Lewis set a new Olympic record with 19.80 seconds.

## Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday, 6 August 1984 | 10:00 12:00 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Wednesday, 8 August 1984 | 16:00 18:30 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Heats
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.70 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Van Miltenburg | Australia | 21.06 | Q |
| 3 | Robson Caetano | Brazil | 21.08 | Q |
| 4 | Georges Kablan Degnan | Ivory Coast | 21.39 | |
| 5 | Earl Haley | Guyana | 21.52 | |
| 6 | Inoke Bainimoli | Fiji | 22.16 | |
| 7 | Saidur Rahman Dawn | Bangladesh | 22.59 | |
| — | Emmanuel Bitanga | Cameroon | DNF | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Leroy Reid | Jamaica | 20.62 | Q |
| 2 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 20.88 | Q |
| 3 | Luke Watson | Great Britain | 21.26 | Q |
| 4 | Yu Zhuanghui | China | 21.48 | |
| 5 | Nordin Mohamed Jadi | Malaysia | 21.88 | |
| 6 | Gregory Simons | Bermuda | 21.88 | |
| 7 | James Idun | Ghana | 22.55 | |
| 8 | Glen Abrahams | Costa Rica | 22.75 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carlo Simionato | Italy | 21.06 | Q |
| 2 | Dudley Parker | Bahamas | 21.12 | Q |
| 3 | Jürgen Evers | West Germany | 21.12 | Q |
| 4 | Florencio Aguilar | Panama | 21.50 | |
| 5 | Sheikh Omar Faye | The Gambia | 21.56 | |
| 6 | Mohammad Mansha | Pakistan | 22.04 | |
| 7 | Christian Nenepath | Indonesia | 22.20 | |
| 8 | Clifford Sibusiso Mamba | Swaziland | 22.76 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Thomas Jefferson | United States | 20.63 | Q |
| 2 | Desai Williams | Canada | 20.70 | Q |
| 3 | João Batista da Silva | Brazil | 20.70 | Q |
| 4 | Jamal Al-Abdullah | Qatar | 21.10 | q |
| 5 | Paul Narracott | Australia | 21.20 | |
| 6 | Larry Miller | Antigua and Barbuda | 21.93 | |
| 7 | Markus Büchel | Liechtenstein | 22.14 | |
| 8 | Augustus Moulton | Liberia | 22.94 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Patrick Barré | France | 20.88 | Q |
| 2 | Fred Martin | Australia | 20.98 | Q |
| 3 | Gus Young | Jamaica | 21.14 | Q |
| 4 | Alfred Nyambane | Kenya | 21.35 | |
| 5 | Hiroki Fuwa | Japan | 21.37 | |
| 6 | Henry Ngolwe | Zambia | 21.58 | |
| 7 | Antoine Kiakouama | Republic of the Congo | 21.64 | |
| 8 | Odiya Silweya | Malawi | 22.46 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.84 | Q |
| 2 | Ade Mafe | Great Britain | 21.24 | Q |
| 3 | Tony Sharpe | Canada | 21.31 | Q |
| 4 | Sumet Promna | Thailand | 21.53 | |
| 5 | Lindel Hodge | British Virgin Islands | 22.28 | |
| 6 | Mohamed Al-Hashimi | Oman | 22.83 | |
| 7 | Aldo Salandra | El Salvador | 22.90 | |
| 8 | Jean-Yves Mallat | Lebanon | 22.91 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carl Lewis | United States | 21.02 | Q |
| 2 | Atlee Mahorn | Canada | 21.42 | Q |
| 3 | Julien Thode | Netherlands Antilles | 21.62 | Q |
| 4 | Manuel Ramírez | Colombia | 21.71 | |
| 5 | Henrique Ferreira | Mozambique | 21.87 | |
| 6 | Luís Barroso | Portugal | 22.03 | |
| 7 | Christopher Madzokere | Zimbabwe | 22.75 | |
| — | Kgosiemang Khumoyarano | Botswana | DNS | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kirk Baptiste | United States | 20.63 | Q |
| 2 | Luis Morales | Puerto Rico | 21.05 | Q |
| 3 | Neville Hodge | Virgin Islands | 21.12 | Q |
| 4 | Ali Bakhta | Algeria | 21.15 | q |
| 5 | Arnaldo da Silva | Brazil | 21.24 | |
| 6 | Lapule Tamean | Papua New Guinea | 21.97 | |
| 7 | Gustavo Envela | Equatorial Guinea | 22.14 | |
| 8 | Emilio Samayoa | Guatemala | 22.19 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stefano Tilli | Italy | 20.72 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Jacques Boussemart | France | 20.82 | Q |
| 3 | Mohamed Purnomo | Indonesia | 21.01 | Q |
| 4 | David Sawyerr | Sierra Leone | 21.29 | |
| 5 | Ivan Benjamin | Sierra Leone | 21.54 | |
| 6 | Moussa Savadogo | Mali | 21.72 | |
| 7 | Denis Rose | Seychelles | 21.87 | |
| — | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | DNS | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jang Jae-Geun | South Korea | 21.32 | Q |
| 2 | John Goville | Uganda | 21.59 | Q |
| 3 | John Mayers | Barbados | 21.70 | Q |
| 4 | Nelson Erazo | Puerto Rico | 21.72 | |
| 5 | Damel Flowers | Belize | 21.72 | |
| 6 | Daniel André | Mauritius | 22.16 | |
| — | Allan Wells | Great Britain | DNS | |
| — | Christian Haas | West Germany | DNS | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carl Lewis | United States | 20.48 | Q |
| 2 | Stefano Tilli | Italy | 20.64 | Q |
| 3 | Atlee Mahorn | Canada | 20.69 | Q |
| 4 | Luis Morales | Puerto Rico | 20.82 | Q |
| 5 | Mohamed Purnomo | Indonesia | 20.93 | |
| 6 | Patrick Barré | France | 20.95 | |
| 7 | Dudley Parker | Bahamas | 21.10 | |
| 8 | Ali Bakhta | Algeria | 21.35 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Desai Williams | Canada | 20.40 | Q |
| 2 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.50 | Q |
| 3 | Ade Mafe | Great Britain | 20.55 | Q |
| 4 | João Batista da Silva | Brazil | 20.61 | Q |
| 5 | Jürgen Evers | West Germany | 20.95 | |
| 6 | Jang Jae-Keun | South Korea | 20.14 | |
| 7 | John Mayers | Barbados | 21.46 | |
| — | Leroy Reid | Jamaica | DNF | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Thomas Jefferson | United States | 20.47 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Jacques Boussemart | France | 20.54 | Q |
| 3 | Donald Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.57 | Q |
| 4 | Robson da Silva | Brazil | 20.88 | Q |
| 5 | Julien Thode | Netherlands Antilles | 21.45 | |
| 6 | Tony Sharpe | Canada | 21.46 | |
| 7 | John Goville | Uganda | 21.55 | |
| — | Fred Martin | Australia | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kirk Baptiste | United States | 20.48 | Q |
| 2 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 20.57 | Q |
| 3 | Gus Young | Jamaica | 20.75 | Q |
| 4 | Carlo Simionato | Italy | 20.86 | Q |
| 5 | Peter Van Miltenburg | Australia | 21.09 | |
| 6 | Luke Watson | Great Britain | 21.14 | |
| 7 | Jamal Al-Abdulla | Qatar | 21.44 | |
| — | Neville Hodge | Virgin Islands | DNS | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kirk Baptiste | United States | 20.29 | Q |
| 2 | Thomas Jefferson | United States | 20.40 | Q |
| 3 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.47 | Q |
| 4 | Jean-Jacques Boussemart | France | 20.55 | Q |
| 5 | Atlee Mahorn | Canada | 20.77 | |
| 6 | Robson da Silva | Brazil | 20.80 | |
| 7 | Gus Young | Jamaica | 21.17 | |
| 8 | Luis Morales | Puerto Rico | 21.22 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carl Lewis | United States | 20.27 | Q |
| 2 | João Batista da Silva | Brazil | 20.61 | Q |
| 3 | Ade Mafe | Great Britain | 20.63 | Q |
| 4 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 20.67 | Q |
| 5 | Desai Williams | Canada | 20.70 | |
| 6 | Stefano Tilli | Italy | 20.72 | |
| 7 | Donald Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.77 | |
| 8 | Carlo Simionato | Italy | 20.92 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | Carl Lewis | United States | 19.80 | OR |
| | Kirk Baptiste | United States | 19.96 | |
| | Thomas Jefferson | United States | 20.26 | |
| 4 | João Batista da Silva | Brazil | 20.30 | |
| 5 | Ralf Lübke | West Germany | 20.51 | |
| 6 | Jean-Jacques Boussemart | France | 20.55 | |
| 7 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.55 | |
| 8 | Ade Mafe | Great Britain | 20.85 | |