Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

This was the 14th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Olympics in 1896 but has been on the program ever since. Two of the six finalists from the 1960 Games returned: gold medalist Livio Berruti of Italy and fourth-place finisher Marian Foik of Poland. The American team, however, was favored: Henry Carr had won the AAU championship in 1964, Paul Drayton had won in 1961 and 1962, and the two had tied in 1963. Carr held the world record of 20.2 seconds (set in a 220 yards race).[2]

Cameroon, Colombia, Hong Kong, Iran, Madagascar, Northern Rhodesia, Rhodesia, and Senegal each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The "fastest loser" system introduced in 1960 was not used, with the number of heats in each round make it unnecessary. The 1964 competition made the 8 person heat standard.

There were 8 heats of between 7 and 8 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.[2]

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Henry Carr (USA)	20.2y	Tempe, United States	4 April 1964
Olympic record	Livio Berruti (ITA)	20.5	Rome, Italy	3 September 1960

Paul Drayton matched the Olympic record of 20.5 seconds in the first semifinal. He ran the same time in the final, but Henry Carr won in 20.3 seconds to set a new Olympic record.

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)