Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

This was the fifth appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. None of the finalists from the pre-war 1912 Games returned. The favorite was Charley Paddock, winner of the U.S. trials and the 1919 Inter-Allied Championships. The strongest non-American competitor was Harry Edward of Great Britain, the 1920 AAA champion.[2]

Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Luxembourg, Monaco, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland each made their debut in the event. The United States made its fifth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

The competition expanded to four rounds: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 12 heats of between 3 and 5 runners each, with the top 2 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 5 heats of between 4 and 5 athletes each; the two fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 5 runners. In that round, the top three athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners.[2]

The race was run on a 390-metre track that was wet and soft.[2]

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

World record	Willie Applegarth (GBR)*	21.2	London, United Kingdom	4 July 1914
Olympic record	Archie Hahn (USA)**	21.6	St. Louis, United States	31 August 1904

^* unofficial 220 yards (= 201.17 m)

^** straight course

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

• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 11 August 2007.