The men's 200 metres event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. The first two rounds were held on 8 July, with the semifinals and final on 9 July. Sixty-five sprinters from 33 countries competed. Nations were limited to 4 athletes each. The event was won by 0.1 seconds by Jackson Scholz of the United States, the nation's third consecutive victory in the event and fifth in six Games. For the third straight Games, the podium consisted of two Americans winning gold and silver (Charley Paddock) and a Briton taking bronze (Eric Liddell). Paddock, the silver medalist in 1920 as well, was the second man to earn multiple medals in the 200 metres.
Background
This was the sixth 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 six finalists from the 1920 Games returned: silver medalist Charley Paddock of the United States.
Argentina, Brazil, Haiti, Ireland, Latvia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Turkey, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its sixth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.
Competition format
The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 17 heats of between 3 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 6 heats of between 5 and 6 athletes each; the two fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. In that round, the top three athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners.
The race was run on a 500-metre track, the last time the Olympics used a track with a different length than the now-standard 400 metres.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:Olympic.org
Jackson Scholz of the United States tied the Olympic record in the final.
Schedule
Date Time Round Tuesday, 8 July 1924 14:3017:00 HeatsQuarterfinals Wednesday, 9 July 1924 14:0015:45 SemifinalsFinal
Results
All times shown are in seconds.
Heats
The first round was held on 8 July. The first two runners of each heat qualified for the second round.
Heat 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Howard Kinsman 21.8 2 André Mourlon 21.8 3 Pietro Pastorino 22.1 4 James Hall 22.5 5 José-María Larrabeiti Unknown
Heat 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Bayes NortonBayes Norton at Sports Reference 21.8 2 Cyril Coaffee 21.8 3 Carlos Garces Unknown 4 Félix Mendizábal Unknown 5 Fritz Bürger Unknown
Heat 3
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Eric Liddell 22.2 2 Rudolf Rauch 22.6 3 Joseph Hilger Unknown 4 Herminio Ahumada Unknown 5 Emilio Casanovas Unknown
Heat 4
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Arthur Porritt 22.4 2 Larry Armstrong Unknown 3 Karl Borner Unknown 4 Lauri Härö Unknown 5 Artūrs Gedvillo Unknown
Heat 5
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Henricus Broos 22.6 2 George Dunston Unknown 3 Paul Hammer Unknown 4 Mogens Truelsen Unknown 5 Oto Seviško Unknown
Heat 6
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jackson Scholz 22.4 2 George Hester Unknown 3 Terence Pitt Unknown 4 Pierre Parrain Unknown 5 Reijo Halme Unknown
Heat 7
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Slip Carr 22.6 2 Bill Lowe 23.0 3 Jan de Vries 23.2 4 Antonín Svoboda
Heat 8
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 John McKechenneay 23.2 2 Roy Norman Unknown 3 Alexandros Papafingos Unknown 4 Alois Linka Unknown 5 Wilfred Hildreth Unknown
Heat 9
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Wilfred Nichol 22.6 2 Ferenc Gerő Unknown 3 José Martínez Unknown 4 Christiaan Steyn Unknown 5 Rauf Hasağası Unknown
Heat 10
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Harold Abrahams 22.2 2 Charley Paddock 22.3 3 Gentil dos Santos 23.0 4 Johannes van Kampen 23.1 5 Diego Ordóñez
Heat 11
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Paul Brochart 23.0 2 Konstantinos Pantelidis Unknown 3 Stanko Perpar Unknown 4 Leo Jørgensen Unknown 5 Walter Strebi Unknown
Heat 12
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Lajos Kurunczy 22.6 2 Sasago Tani Unknown 3 Gvido Jekals Unknown 4 Poul Schiang Unknown 5 Hirsch Drisin Unknown
Heat 13
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 George Hill 22.0 2 Thomas Matthewman 21.0 3 Alvaro de Oliveira Unknown 4 Aleksander Szenajch Unknown 5 Mariano Aguilar Unknown
Heat 14
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Joseph Jackson 22.8 2 Félix Escobar 23.0 3 Zygmunt Weiss 23.4 4 Ville Ritola Unknown 5 Bohus Fleischer Unknown
Heat 15
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Maurice Degrelle 22.6 2 Marinus van den Berge Unknown 3 David Nepomuceno Unknown 4 Lawrence Beets Unknown 5 Henricus Cockuyt Unknown
Heat 16
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Sean Lavan 23.2 2 Juan Junquera Unknown 3 Reinhold Kesküll Unknown 4 Narciso Valdares Costa Unknown 5 Karel Pott Unknown
Heat 17
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Valéry Théard 23.6 2 Jānis Oja Unknown 3 Johannes Brock Unknown 4 Fortunato Catalon Unknown 5 Mohamed Burhan Unknown
Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals were held on 8 July. The first two runners of each heat qualified for the semifinals.
Quarterfinal 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Charley Paddock 22.2 2 Wilfred Nichol 22.6 3 George Dunston Unknown 4 Jānis Oja Unknown 5 Rudolf Rauch Unknown
Quarterfinal 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Slip Carr 21.8 2 Eric Liddell Unknown 3 Joseph Jackson Unknown 4 Sean Lavan Unknown 5 John MacKechenneay Unknown 6 Juan Junquera Unknown
Quarterfinal 3
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jackson Scholz 21.8 2 Cyril Coaffee Unknown 3 Sasago Tani Unknown 4 Valéry Théard Unknown 5 Roy Norman Unknown 6 Konstantinos Pantelidis Unknown
Quarterfinal 4
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Harold Abrahams 22.0 2 Bayes Norton 22.3 3 Maurice Degrelle 22.4 4 Ferenc Gerő 22.4 5 Laurence Armstrong Unknown 6 Félix Escobar Unknown
Quarterfinal 5
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Arthur Porritt 22.0 2 André Mourlon 22.1 3 Lajos Kurunczy Unknown 4 Thomas Matthewman Unknown 5 Bill Lowe Unknown 6 Marinus van den Berge Unknown
Quarterfinal 6
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 George Hill 21.8 2 Howard Kinsman Unknown 3 Paul Brochart Unknown 4 George Hester Unknown 5 Henricus Broos Unknown
Semifinals
The semifinals were held on 9 July. The first three runners from each semifinal qualified for the final.
Semifinal 1
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jackson Scholz 21.8 2 George Hill 21.8 3 Harold Abrahams 21.9 4 Slip Carr 22.1 5 Wilfred Nichol 22.4 6 Arthur Porritt 22.6
Semifinal 2
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Charley Paddock 21.8 2 Eric Liddell 21.8 3 Bayes Norton 22.1 4 André Mourlon 22.2 5 Howard Kinsman 22.3 6 Cyril Coaffee 22.4
Final
The final was held on 9 July.
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time Notes 4 Jackson Scholz 21.6 6 Charley Paddock 21.7 5 Eric Liddell 21.9 4 1 George Hill 22.0 5 3 Bayes Norton 22.0 6 2 Harold Abrahams 22.3
References
https://web.archive.org/web/20100904130200/http://www.databaseolympics.com/games/gamessport.htm?g=8&sp=ATH