200m champions and records
The men’s 200m world record has proven to be one of the most difficult to break in the whole of track Athletics.
The oldest among the top ten times (see table below) is Pietro Mennea’s (Italy) world record of 19’’72, recorded in Mexico City in 1979. The record resisted until Michael Johnson (USA) run the distance in 19’’32 at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. A 2% improvement in 17 years! Since then, another 12 years have passed before the record was at last improved again: by Usain Bolt (Jamaica) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, by a 2 hundredths of a second margin. Altogether, a 2,1% improvement over the course of 29 years!
Top Ten results Men
Updated 3 October 2008.
|
Rank
|
Res.
|
|
Athlete
|
Nation
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1.
|
19.30
|
|
Usain Bolt
|
Jamaica
|
20 August 2008
|
Beijing
|
|
2.
|
19.32
|
|
Michael Johnson
|
United States
|
1 August 1996
|
Atlanta
|
|
3.
|
19.58
|
|
Tyson Gay
|
United States
|
30 May 2009
|
New York City
|
|
4.
|
19.63
|
|
Xavier Carter
|
United States
|
11 July 2006
|
Lausanne
|
|
5.
|
19.65
|
|
Wallace Spearmon
|
United States
|
28 September 2006
|
Daegu
|
|
6.
|
19.68
|
|
Frankie Fredericks
|
Namibia
|
1 August 1996
|
Atlanta
|
|
7.
|
19.69
|
|
Walter Dix
|
United States
|
26 May 2007
|
Gainesville
|
|
8.
|
19.72
|
|
Pietro Mennea
|
Italy
|
12 September 1979
|
Mexico City
|
|
9.
|
19.73
|
|
Michael Marsh
|
United States
|
5 August 1992
|
Barcelona
|
|
10.
|
19.75
|
|
Carl Lewis
|
United States
|
19 June 1983
|
Indianapolis
|
|
|
Joe DeLoach
|
United States
|
28 September 1988
|
TOP TEN RESULTS Women
Updated 3 October 2008
|
Rank
|
Res.
|
Wind
|
Athlete
|
Nation
|
Date
|
Location
|
|
1.
|
21.34
|
+1.3
|
Florence Griffith-Joyner
|
United States
|
29 September 1988
|
Seoul
|
|
2.
|
21.62
|
−0.6
|
Marion Jones
|
United States
|
11 September 1998
|
Johannesburg
|
|
3.
|
21.64
|
+0.8
|
Merlene Ottey
|
Jamaica
|
13 September 1991
|
Brussels
|
|
4.
|
21.71
|
+0.7
|
Marita Koch
|
East Germany
|
10 June 1979
|
Karl-Marx-Stadt
|
|
+1.2
|
Heike Drechsler
|
East Germany
|
29 June 1986
|
Jena
|
||
|
6.
|
21.72
|
+1.3
|
Grace Jackson
|
Jamaica
|
29 September 1988
|
Seoul
|
|
−0.1
|
Gwen Torrence
|
United States
|
15 August 1992
|
Barcelona
|
||
|
8.
|
21.74
|
+0.4
|
Marlies Göhr
|
East Germany
|
3 June 1984
|
Erfurt
|
|
+1.2
|
Silke Gladisch-Möller
|
East Germany
|
3 September 1987
|
Rome
|
||
|
−0.6
|
Veronica Campbell-Brown
|
Jamaica
|
21 August 2008
|
What about nations’ performance in the TOP TOURNAMENTS, the Olympic Games and the World Championships? The USA are dominant, but there are a few surprises, particularly among the ladies.
We’ve awarded GSN points to all medals winners in both tournaments (for the Olympics Games, since Paris 1900 for the men and London 1948 for the ladies; for the World Championships, since their first edition in 1983) and the rankings are as follows:
200m MEN:
1. USA 496 pts
2. Great Britain 76 pts
3. Namibia 50 pts (all by one man, Frankie Fredericks!)
4. Jamaica 42 pts
5. Italy 32 pts
6. Canada 26 pts
7. Brazil 24 pts
8. Trinidad & Tobago 22 pts
9. Greece 20 pts
10. France 14 pts
11. Russia (USSR) 10 pts
12. Germany, Netherlands, Nigeria, Australia and Panama 6 pts each
200m LADIES:
1. USA 166 pts
2. Jamaica 136 pts
3. Germany (also DDR) 102 pts
4. Australia and Russia 54 pts
5. Poland 24 pts
6. France and Bahamas 22 pts
7. Great Britain and Sri Lanka 20 pts
8. Netherlands 18 pts
9. Nigeria 6 pts
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the article “200m” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/200m
