Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres

The Women's 200 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entry list of 60 competitors, with eight qualifying heats (60), four second-round races (32) and two semi-finals (16), before the final (8) took off on Thursday September 29, 1988.[1]

Women's 200 metres at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	28 September 1988 (heats, quarter-finals) 29 September 1988 (semi-final, final)
Competitors	59 from 43 nations
Winning time	21.34 WR
Medalists
Florence Griffith-Joyner  United States Grace Jackson  Jamaica Heike Drechsler  East Germany

Official Video Highlights

Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
3000 m		women
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
Wheelchair races

At the 1988 Olympic Trials, her 21.77 American record already showed Florence Griffith-Joyner was going to be a contender against the East Germans who had dominated the sprints for the previous decade. Marita Koch had retired but her equal Heike Drechsler was here. In the quarter-final round, Griffith-Joyner improved to 21.76, but then she had set the world record in the 100 metres. The semi-finals the following day showed she had more, her 21.56 was a .15 improvement on the world record. More than a quarter century later, the time still stands as the second fastest 200 metres ever run by a woman. The final was more impressive, Griffith-Joyner gradually making up the stagger on Grace Jackson to her outside and Merlene Ottey running about equal through the turn. From there she simply pulled away from the best in the world. The tall Jackson was able to separate from her Jamaican teammate but was still three long steps behind Griffith-Joyner. Inhibited by the tight turn of lane 1, Drechsler made a late rush on the inside to catch Ottey for bronze.

21.34 knocked another .22 off her world record from earlier in the day (.37 taken from the world record on one day). The time has never been approached since. Jackson, in second place in this race missed the previous world record by .01 and did not look in contention. Five women have since surpassed Koch and Drechsler's world record, including 4th place Ottey twice.