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

The men's 200 metres sprint event at the 1936 Olympic Games took place between August 4 and August 5. There were 44 athletes from 22 nations competing. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by 0.4 seconds by American Jesse Owens, with silver going to Mack Robinson (brother of baseball's Jackie Robinson).^[1] Owens thus reached 3 gold medals in 1936 (along with the 100 metres and long jump), with the sprint relay still to come. The Netherlands earned its first medal in the men's 200 metres with Tinus Osendarp's bronze.

Background

This was the ninth 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 six finalists from the 1932 Games returned. Jesse Owens was the favorite coming into the Games. He had already won both the 100 metres and the long jump in Berlin.^[2]

Liechtenstein made its debut in the event. The United States made its ninth appearance, the only nation to have competed at each edition of the 200 metres to date.

Competition format

The competition used the four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 8 heats of between 4 and 6 runners each, with the top 3 men in each advancing to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats of 6 athletes each; the 3 fastest men in each heat advanced to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals, each with 6 runners. Again, the top 3 athletes advanced. The final had 6 runners. The races were run on a now-standard 400 metre track.^[2]

Records

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

• On straightaway. No world record existed for running on a curve.^{[3] [2]}

Jesse Owens set a new Olympic record in the third heat, running in 21.1 seconds. He repeated that performance in the third quarterfinal. Mack Robinson matched Owens' new record in the first semifinal, and again in the final—but Owens finished with a time of 20.7 seconds in the final to lower the Olympic record and set an unofficial world record for curved-track running.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 4 August 1936	10:30 15:30	Heats Quarterfinals
Wednesday, 5 August 1936	15:00 18:00	Semifinals Final

Results

Heats

The fastest three runners in each of the eight heats advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.4
2	Tomás Beswick		22.1
3	Mutsuo Taniguchi		22.2
4	Antonio Salcedo		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
5	José de Almeida		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
6	Aristidis Sakellariou		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.7
2	Egon Schein		22.0
3	Alan Pennington		22.1
4	Masao Yazawa		22.4
5	Pierre Dondelinger		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
6	Xaver Frick		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.1	,
2	Lee Orr		21.6
3	Karl Neckermann		21.8
4	Arthur Sweeney		22.1
5	Nemesio de Guzman		22.9
6	Gunnar Christensen		23.1

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			22.1
2	Gyula Gyenes		22.1
3	Felix Rinner		22.4
4	Paul Bronner		22.6
5	Chen Kingkwan		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.9
2	Renos Frangoudis		22.1
3	József Sir		22.2
4	Poh Kimseng		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
5	Pat Dannaher		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.7
2	Howard McPhee		21.8
3	Börje Strandvall		22.6
4	George Fahoum		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
5	Liu Changchun		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
6	Antonio Fondevilla		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.2
2	Eric Grimbeek		21.8
3	Albert Steinmetz		21.9
4	Eric Whiteside		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.6
2	Aki Tammisto		22.2
3	Carlos Hofmeister		22.3
4	Dieudonné Devrindt		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
5	Mario Minai		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
6	Alfred König		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Quarterfinals

The fastest three runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.2
2	Paul Hänni		21.3
3	Bob Packard		21.3
4	József Sir		21.6
5	Egon Schein		21.7
6	Tomás Beswick		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.7
2	Marthinus Theunissen		21.9
3	Bruce Humber		22.1
4	Renos Frangoudis		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
5	Mutsuo Taniguchi		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
6	Carlos Hofmeister		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.1	,
2	Howard McPhee		21.8
3	Eric Grimbeek		21.9
4	Aki Tammisto		22.0
5	Felix Rinner		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
data-sort-value=6	—	Albert Steinmetz		data-sort-value=99.9

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.2
2	Tinus Osendarp		21.3
3	Karl Neckermann		21.6
4	Gyula Gyenes		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
5	Börje Strandvall		data-sort-value=30.0	Unknown
data-sort-value=6	—	Alan Pennington		data-sort-value=99.9

Semifinals

The fastest three runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.1	,
2	Lee Orr		21.3
3	Wil van Beveren		21.5
4	Bob Packard		21.6
5	Karl Neckermann		21.8
6	Eric Grimbeek		22.2

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1			21.3
2	Tinus Osendarp		21.5
3	Paul Hänni		21.6
4	Marthinus Theunissen		21.8
5	Bruce Humber		22.0
6	Howard McPhee		22.0

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
			20.7
			21.1
			21.3
4			21.6
5			21.6
6			21.9

Notes and References

1. Web site: Athletics at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games: Men's 200 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174347/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1936/ATH/mens-200-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 9 July 2017 . Sports Reference.
2. Web site: 200 metres, Men . Olympedia . 29 December 2020.
3. Official Report, p. 621.