The men's 200 metres was an event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The competition was held on 3–4 September. There were 57 competitors from 42 nations. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by 0.19 seconds by Valeriy Borzov of the Soviet Union, the nation's first medal in the event. Larry Black took silver, extending the United States' podium streak in the men's 200 metres to nine Games. Italy earned its first medal in the event since 1960 with Pietro Mennea's bronze.

Background

This was the 16th 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 1968 Games returned: fourth-place finisher (and 1964 bronze medalist) Edwin Roberts of Trinidad and Tobago. Larry Black was the top American and one of the favorites, along with 1971 Pan American Games winner Don Quarrie of Jamaica. European champion Valeriy Borzov of the Soviet Union was also a contender.

Chad, the Republic of the Congo, East Germany, Lesotho, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, and Suriname each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 16th 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 used again in the heats and, for the first time, in the quarterfinals.

There were 9 heats of between 7 and 8 runners each (before withdrawals), with the top 4 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 4 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 5 heats of 8 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat as well as the next fastest runner overall 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.

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

Schedule

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round Sunday, 3 September 1972 11:0015:40 HeatsQuarterfinals Monday, 4 September 1972 15:2518:10 SemifinalsFinal

Results

Heats

The top four runners in each of the nine heats and the next fastest four advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Siegfried Schenke 20.66 2 Bruno Cherrier 20.79 3 Jiří Kynos 20.95 4 Audun Garshol 21.16 5 Pasqualino Abeti 21.17 6 Solomon Belay 21.73 — Zenon Nowosz

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Don Quarrie 21.04 2 Martin Jellinghaus 21.10 3 Andrés Calonge 21.39 4 Ladislav Kříž 21.58 5 Mike Sands 21.61 6 Yeo Kian Chye 21.89 — Amadou Meïté Rodolfo Rieder

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Valeriy Borzov 20.64 2 Edwin Roberts 20.95 3 Richard Hardware 21.09 4 Motsapi Moorosi 21.15 5 Su Wen-Ho 21.55 6 Jean-Pierre Bassegela 21.72 7 Hamad Ndee 21.74

Heat 4

Wind assisted.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.53 2 Markku Juhola 20.98 3 Ainsley Armstrong 21.12 4 Guillermo González 21.22 5 Sammy Monsels 21.26 6 Gaston Malam 21.71 7 Gary Georges 22.97

Heat 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Larry Black 20.79 2 René Metz 21.08 3 Brian Green 21.26 4 Omar Chokhmane 21.29 5 Luiz de Silva 21.81 6 Eston Kaonga 22.18 — Benedict Majekodumni

Heat 6

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Chuck Smith 20.79 2 Vladimir Lovetskiy 20.99 3 Sunil Gunawardene 21.60 4 Trevor James 21.83 5 Zainuddin Wahab 21.87 6 Dominic Saidu 22.48 7 Saad Khalil Al-Dosari 22.56 — Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa

Heat 7

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jaroslav Matoušek 20.70 2 Francisco García 20.89 3 George Daniels 21.05 4 Jimmy Sierra 21.10 5 Kevin Johnson 21.70 6 Ibrahim Saad Abdel Galil 22.41 — Mao Samphon Abdulazeez Abdulkareem

Heat 8

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Manfred Ommer 20.80 2 Hans-Joachim Zenk 20.93 3 James Addy 21.06 4 Dan Amuke 21.53 5 Nusrat Iqbal Sahi 22.07 — Saleh Alah-Djaba — Charlie Francis

Heat 9

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Larry Burton 20.80 2 Lucien Sainte-Rose 21.09 3 Bevan Smith 21.17 4 Philippe Clerc 21.32 5 Tukal Mokalam 21.81 6 William Dralu 21.87 — Larmeck Mukonde

Quarterfinals

The top three runners (blue) in each of the five heats and the next fastest (green) advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Valeriy Borzov 20.30 2 Manfred Ommer 20.53 3 Jiří Kynos 20.68 4 René Metz 20.83 5 Jimmy Sierra 20.87 6 Omar Chokhmane 21.00 7 Guillermo González 21.10 — Mike Sands

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Jaroslav Matoušek 20.65 2 Chuck Smith 20.66 3 Ainsley Armstrong 21.00 4 Bevan Smith 21.04 5 George Daniels 21.10 6 Andrés Calonge 21.11 7 Markku Juhola 21.19 8 Sunil Gunawardene 21.31

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Larry Burton 20.68 2 Martin Jellinghaus 20.70 3 Siegfried Schenke 20.79 4 Philippe Clerc 20.82 5 Edwin Roberts 20.99 6 Pasqualino Abeti 21.00 7 Ladislav Kříž 21.46 — James Addy

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Larry Black 20.28 2 Don Quarrie 20.43 3 Bruno Cherrier 20.62 4 Vladimir Lovetskiy 20.83 5 Motsapi Moorosi 20.90 6 Su Wen-Ho 21.47 7 Audun Garshol 25.30 — Dan Amuke

Quarterfinal 5

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Pietro Mennea 20.47 2 Hans-Joachim Zenk 20.59 3 Richard Hardware 20.76 4 Lucien Sainte-Rose 20.76 5 Francisco García 20.77 6 Trevor James 21.34 7 Brian Green 21.41 — Samuel Monsels

Semifinals

Top four in each heat advance to final.

Semifinal 1

Quarrie pulled his hamstring during the race and could not finish.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Valeriy Borzov 20.74 2 Larry Burton 20.78 3 Chuck Smith 20.86 4 Siegfried Schenke 20.97 5 Jaroslav Matoušek 20.99 6 Manfred Ommer 21.08 7 Lucien Sainte-Rose 21.42 — Don Quarrie

Semifinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Larry Black 20.36 2 Pietro Mennea 20.52 3 Hans-Joachim Zenk 20.63 4 Martin Jellinghaus 20.75 5 Jiří Kynos 20.88 6 Ainsley Armstrong 21.13 7 Bruno Cherrier 21.15 8 Richard Hardware 21.24

Final

Rank Athlete Nation Time Valeriy Borzov 20.00 Larry Black 20.19 Pietro Mennea 20.30 4 Larry Burton 20.37 5 Chuck Smith 20.55 6 Siegfried Schenke 20.56 7 Martin Jellinghaus 20.65 8 Hans-Joachim Zenk 21.05

References

External links Official report