Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres

The men's 200 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 7–9 August.

Contents

• Competition format
• Records
• Schedule
• Round 1
• References

The semi-final round showed all three Jamaican athletes were the class of the field. In heat one, Yohan Blake had a huge lead and relaxed down the straightaway, almost too much as Wallace Spearmon and Christophe Lemaitre raced to the line behind him in the fastest heat of the day. Usain Bolt dominated the second heat, jogging and looking around for non-existent challengers down the straight. And in heat three, Warren Weir was running easily, easing up at the finish to let Churandy Martina take the first spot, knowing he had qualified in the second position. Slowest qualifier Alex Quiñónez, racing hard for his 20.37, was on the opposite side of a clear dividing line in the field.

In the final, Bolt, who was in lane 7, moved past his Jamaican teammate Weir after only 50 metres; coming off the bend and onto the final 100-metre straight, Bolt's lead over the rest of the field had grown to several metres, however Blake began to pull him back. Due to the lead he had built in the first 120 meters, it was Bolt who crossed the line first in a time of 19.32, already easing off before the line. In doing so, he became the first man in history to do the "double double" – winning both the 100 and 200 metres twice, back to back (he would later break this record by winning the 4 x 100m relay and completing the Double Triple, at the same Olympics). Blake took the silver medal, as he had done in the 100 metres final, again behind Bolt. His time was the fastest ever time to not win a gold medal. Weir completed the 1–2–3 sweep for the Jamaicans by winning the bronze medal, the second time in any international competition that Jamaica has achieved this (after the women did it in the 2008 100 metres).

Bolt's time of 19.32 was coincidentally the time he had beaten when he first broke the 200 metres world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics 200 metres.

The final was only the third time since 1928 (the others being the 1980 Olympics in Moscow which they boycotted, and also the 2000 Olympics in Sydney) that the United States failed to win a medal in the men's 200 metres, Wallace Spearmon finishing fourth with a time of 19.90, 6/100 second outside of a medal placing.