Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

Men's 200 metres at the Games of the XI Olympiad
File:Jesse Owens 1936.jpg Jesse Owens
Venue	Olympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
Dates	August 4 (heats and quarterfinals) August 5 (semifinals and final)
Competitors	44 from 23 nations
Winning time	20.7 WR
Medalists
Jesse Owens  United States   Mack Robinson  United States   Tinus Osendarp  Netherlands
«1932	1948»

Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men
400 m	men
800 m	men
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
80 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeple	men
4 × 100 m relay	men	women
4 × 400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Decathlon	men

The men's 200 metres sprint at the 1936 Olympic Games was on August 4 and August 5. There were 44 athletes. These athletes were from 22 different nations.^[1] Each country could only have 3 athletes in this event. Jesse Owens won the event by 0.4 seconds. Mack Robinson(brother of baseball's Jackie Robinson) was in 2nd place.^[2] This was Owen's 3rd gold medal. He had also gotten a medal in the 100 metres and long jump. Later, he would also win the sprint relay. Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands was in 3rd place. This was their first medal in this event.

This was the 200 metres in the Olympics. It was not in the 1896 Summer Olympics, but it was in every Olympics after that. None of the 6 athletes from the 1932 finals were also in this event. Jesse Owens was the favorite Olympian. He had already won both the 100 metres and the long jump in Berlin.^[1]

This was the first time that Liechtenstein ran in this event. This was the 9th time that the United States was in this event. They were the only country to have been at every 200 metres in the Olympics so far.

The competition was the same since 1920. There were heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 8 heats. Each heat had 4 to 6 runners. The 3 fastest runners in each heat went to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats. Each heat had 6 athletes each. The 3 fastest men in each quarterfinal went to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals. Each semifinal had 6 runners. The 3 fastest athletes in each semifinal went to the finals. The final had 6 runners. Before, some 200 metres races were on a straight trace. These races were run on the new standard 400-metre track.^[1]

Before this competition, these were the world and Olympic records.

World record		20.6*
Olympic record	Eddie Tolan (USA)	21.2	Los Angeles, United States	3 August 1932

^*On straightaway. No world record existed for running on a curve.^[3][1]

Jesse Owens beat the Olympic record in the 3rd heat. He ran 21.1 seconds. He tied that time in the 3rd quarterfinal. Mack Robinson tied that time in the 1st semifinal. He also tied that time in the final. However, Owens had won with the time of 20.7 seconds. This beat the Olympic record. It also was the unofficial record for the 200 metres on a curved track.^[1]