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

The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The competition was held on 25 July 1976 and 26 July 1976. There were 45 competitors from 33 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.06 seconds by Don Quarrie of Jamaica.

## Summary

Starting in lane 2, co-world record holder Don Quarrie of Jamaica was out to the lead from the gun. Only American Millard Hampton was in near contact. Through the turn, Hasely Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago pulled up and eventually limped home almost a minute behind the field. Coming off the turn another American, Dwayne Evans on the outside in lane 7, and future world record holder Italian Pietro Mennea across the track in lane 1, were battling for bronze with Bogdan Grzejszczak of Poland the next pursuer. Quarrie won the gold medal, with Hampton finishing close second. Meanwhile, Evans had the stronger finish to hold off Mennea. The fastest finish of all was by Rui da Silva, who came off the turn in dead last but made up several metres to take fifth.
Quarrie's gold was Jamaica's first medal in the men's 200 metres. The United States extended its podium streak in the event to 10 Games.

## Background

This was the 17th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. One of the eight finalists from the 1972 Games returned: bronze medalist Pietro Mennea of Italy. The favorite was Don Quarrie of Jamaica, who had also been favored four years earlier in Munich but pulled a hamstring in the semifinals. His biggest competitors in 1976 were Steve Williams of the United States, who was out injured, and James Gilkes of Guyana, who was not competing due to the African boycott.
Antigua and Barbuda, the Ivory Coast, Kuwait, and Papua New Guinea each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 17th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the men's 200 metres to date.

## 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 available but not used this Games due to the distribution of heats making it unnecessary.
There were 8 heats of between 6 and 7 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 4 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. 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. Again, the top 4 athletes advanced. The final had 8 runners. The races were run on a 400 metre track.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Tommie Smith (USA) | 19.83 | Mexico City, Mexico | 16 October 1968 |
| Olympic record | Tommie Smith (USA) | 19.83 | Mexico City, Mexico | 16 October 1968 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 25 July 1976 | 10:30 18:05 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Monday, 26 July 1976 | 14:45 16:50 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Heats

Held on July 25, 1976.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Millard Hampton | United States | 21.11 | Q |
| 2 | Cuthbert Jacobs | Antigua and Barbuda | 21.50 | Q |
| 3 | Colin Bradford | Jamaica | 21.57 | Q |
| 4 | Armando Padilla | Nicaragua | 23.07 | Q |
| 5 | Hamed Ali | Saudi Arabia | 23.37 | |
| — | Ainsley Armstrong | Trinidad and Tobago | DNF | |
| — | Hannu Mäkelä | Finland | DNS | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Rick Mitchell | Australia | 21.91 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Muster | Switzerland | 22.33 | Q |
| 3 | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | 22.35 | Q |
| 4 | Calvin Dill | Bermuda | 22.38 | Q |
| — | Felix Lopez Matias | Dominican Republic | DNS | |
| — | Aleksandr Aksinin | Soviet Union | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dwayne Evans | United States | 20.96 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Fitzgerald | Australia | 21.35 | Q |
| 3 | Georges Kablan Degnan | Ivory Coast | 21.57 | Q |
| 4 | Abdul Aziz Abdul Kareem | Kuwait | 22.44 | Q |
| 5 | Rawle Clarke | Barbados | 22.75 | |
| — | Colin Thurton | Belize | DNS | |
| — | Petar Petrov | Bulgaria | DNS | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Guy Abrahams | Panama | 20.95 | Q |
| 2 | Thorsten Johansson | Sweden | 21.05 | Q |
| 3 | Pietro Farina | Italy | 21.32 | Q |
| 4 | Nikolay Kolesnikov | Soviet Union | 21.33 | Q |
| 5 | Mark Lutz | United States | 21.50 | |
| 6 | Christian Dorosario | Senegal | 21.96 | |
| — | Robert Martin | Canada | DNS | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.93 | Q |
| 2 | Zenon Nowosz | Poland | 21.29 | Q |
| 3 | Joseph Arame | France | 21.34 | Q |
| 4 | Sammy Monsels | Suriname | 21.60 | Q |
| 5 | Ramli Ahmad | Malaysia | 21.92 | |
| — | Clive Sands | Bahamas | DNF | |
| — | Hermes Ramirez | Cuba | DNS | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ainsley Bennett | Great Britain | 21.26 | Q |
| 2 | Bogdan Grzejszczak | Poland | 21.35 | Q |
| 3 | Pedro Ferrer | Puerto Rico | 21.60 | Q |
| 4 | Tony Moore | Fiji | 21.82 | Q |
| 5 | Philippe Étienne | Haiti | 22.57 | |
| — | Francisco Gómez | Cuba | DNS | |
| — | Valeriy Borzov | Soviet Union | DNS | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.85 | Q |
| 2 | Rui da Silva | Brazil | 20.99 | Q |
| 3 | Endre Lépold | Hungary | 21.50 | Q |
| 4 | Walter Callander | Bahamas | 21.79 | Q |
| 5 | Marian Woronin | Poland | 21.90 | |
| 6 | Ayoub Bodaghi | Iran | 22.47 | |
| 7 | Wavala Kali | Papua New Guinea | 22.64 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roland Bombardella | Luxembourg | 21.18 | Q |
| 2 | Lambert Micha | Belgium | 21.25 | Q |
| 3 | Jean Mayer | France | 21.25 | Q |
| 4 | Hugh Fraser | Canada | 21.54 | Q |
| 5 | Barka Sy | Senegal | 21.54 | |
| 6 | Vittorio Milanesio | Italy | 21.94 | |
| — | Silvio Leonard | Cuba | DNS | |

### Quarterfinals

Held on July 25, 1976.

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dwayne Evans | United States | 20.56 | Q |
| 2 | Guy Abrahams | Panama | 20.72 | Q |
| 3 | Rui da Silva | Brazil | 20.76 | Q |
| 4 | Colin Bradford | Jamaica | 21.03 | Q |
| 5 | Peter Muster | Switzerland | 21.09 | |
| 6 | Zenon Nowosz | Poland | 21.22 | |
| 7 | Pietro Farina | Italy | 21.31 | |
| 8 | Hugh Fraser | Canada | 21.57 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.70 | Q |
| 2 | Georges Kablan Degnan | Ivory Coast | 20.91 | Q |
| 3 | Ainsley Bennett | Great Britain | 21.07 | Q |
| 4 | Nikolay Kolesnikov | Soviet Union | 21.08 | Q |
| 5 | Thorsten Johansson | Sweden | 21.08 | |
| 6 | Calvin Dill | Bermuda | 21.40 | |
| 7 | Endre Lépold | Hungary | 21.68 | |
| — | Richard Mitchell | Australia | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.28 | Q |
| 2 | Millard Hampton | United States | 20.83 | Q |
| 3 | Joseph Arame | France | 21.04 | Q |
| 4 | Lambert Micha | Belgium | 21.09 | Q |
| 5 | Sammy Monsels | Suriname | 21.29 | |
| 6 | Cuthbert Jacobs | Antigua and Barbuda | 21.33 | |
| 7 | Tony Moore | Fiji | 21.75 | |
| 8 | Abdul Aziz Abdul Kareem | Kuwait | 22.34 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | 20.95 | Q |
| 2 | Bogdan Grzejszczak | Poland | 21.02 | Q |
| 3 | Roland Bombardella | Luxembourg | 21.03 | Q |
| 4 | Peter Fitzgerald | Australia | 21.07 | Q |
| 5 | Pedro Ferrer | Puerto Rico | 21.33 | |
| 6 | Walter Callander | Bahamas | 21.78 | |
| 7 | Armando Padilla | Nicaragua | 22.74 | |
| 8 | Jean Mayer | France | 24.27 | |

### Semifinals

Held on July 26, 1976.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.67 | Q |
| 2 | Millard Hampton | United States | 20.69 | Q |
| 3 | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | 20.99 | Q |
| 4 | Colin Bradford | Jamaica | 21.09 | Q |
| 5 | Georges Kablan Degnan | Ivory Coast | 21.14 | |
| 6 | Roland Bombardella | Luxembourg | 21.16 | |
| 7 | Nikolay Kolesnikov | Soviet Union | 21.25 | |
| 8 | Peter Fitzgerald | Australia | 21.29 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.48 | Q |
| 2 | Dwayne Evans | United States | 20.83 | Q |
| 3 | Rui da Silva | Brazil | 21.01 | Q |
| 4 | Bogdan Grzejszczak | Poland | 21.14 | Q |
| 5 | Guy Abrahams | Panama | 21.15 | |
| 6 | Joseph Arame | France | 21.29 | |
| 7 | Lambert Micha | Belgium | 21.46 | |
| 8 | Ainsley Bennett | Great Britain | 21.52 | |

### Final

Held on July 26, 1976. The Official Report has Crawford listed as did not finish.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | 2 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 20.23 |
| | 4 | Millard Hampton | United States | 20.29 |
| | 7 | Dwayne Evans | United States | 20.43 |
| 4 | 1 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 20.54 |
| 5 | 8 | Rui da Silva | Brazil | 20.84 |
| 6 | 6 | Bogdan Grzejszczak | Poland | 20.91 |
| 7 | 3 | Colin Bradford | Jamaica | 21.17 |
| 8 | 5 | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | 1:19.60 |