Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

This was the 24th 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 eight finalists from the 2000 Games returned: silver medalist Darren Campbell and fifth-place finisher Christian Malcolm, both of Great Britain. The 1992 and 1996 silver medalist, Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, had missed the 2000 Games due to injury but returned in 2004. Reigning Olympic champion Konstantinos Kenteris of Greece missed a drug test the day before the Games opened, resulting in his suspension.[2]

Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Palau, and Slovenia each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 23rd appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

The final pool looked similar to the 100 metres final pool, with the favorites, Justin Gatlin, Francis Obikwelu and Shawn Crawford in the center of the track. Bernard Williams also was in the final, along with perennial silver medalist Frankie Fredericks. From the gun, Williams near the inside got a clearly better start, quickly making up a step on the stagger to Crawford to his outside. But through the turn, Crawford maintained the distance while running the further distance. Crawford and Gatlin ran about even last portion of the turn looked more powerful than Williams and Gatlin on either side. By the end of the turn, it was the three Americans in the lead, led by Crawford, Obikwelu the closest challenger a step behind. Crawford separated from Gatlin at the head of the straight and the race was for second. Gatlin held the edge down the straight until the last ten metres when Gatlin seemed to struggle and Williams cruised to silver. Next to last at the beginning of the straight, veteran Fredericks gained steadily and was able to dip past Obikwelu for fourth,[3][4] but not enough to break up the American sweep.

The Olympic qualification period for the athletics ran from 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For this event, each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter up to three athletes, provided they had run below 20.59 seconds during this period in IAAF-sanctioned meetings or tournaments. If a NOC had no athletes qualified under this standard, it could enter up to one athlete that had run below 20.75 seconds.

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 in the heats and quarterfinals.

There were 7 heats of 7 or 8 runners each, with the top 4 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals along with the next 4 fastest overall. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 8 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat and the next 4 fastest overall advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 8 runners. The top 4 athletes in each semifinal 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	Michael Johnson (USA)	19.32	Atlanta, United States	1 August 1996
Olympic record	Michael Johnson (USA)	19.32	Atlanta, United States	1 August 1996

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

The competition used a three-day schedule rather than a two-day schedule, splitting the semifinals and final into two days. The three-day schedule had previously been used in 1992, but before that had last been used in 1908.

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

• IAAF Athens 2004 Olympic Coverage