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

The men's 200 metres sprint at the 1936 Olympic Games was on August 4 and August 5. There were 44 athletes. These athletes were from 22 different nations. Each country could only have 3 athletes in this event. Jesse Owens won the event by 0.4 seconds. Mack Robinson(brother of baseball's Jackie Robinson) was in 2nd place. This was Owen's 3rd gold medal. He had also gotten a medal in the 100 metres and long jump. Later, he would also win the sprint relay. Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands was in 3rd place. This was their first medal in this event.

Men's 200 metres at the Games of the XI Olympiad
File:Jesse Owens 1936.jpg Jesse Owens
Venue	Olympiastadion: Berlin, Germany
Dates	August 4 (heats and quarterfinals) August 5 (semifinals and final)
Competitors	44 from 23 nations
Winning time	20.7 WR
Medalists
Jesse Owens  United States   Mack Robinson  United States   Tinus Osendarp  Netherlands
«1932	1948»

Background

This was the 200 metres in the Olympics. It was not in the 1896 Summer Olympics, but it was in every Olympics after that. None of the 6 athletes from the 1932 finals were also in this event. Jesse Owens was the favorite Olympian. He had already won both the 100 metres and the long jump in Berlin.

This was the first time that Liechtenstein ran in this event. This was the 9th time that the United States was in this event. They were the only country to have been at every 200 metres in the Olympics so far.

Competition

The competition was the same since 1920. There were heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. There were 8 heats. Each heat had 4 to 6 runners. The 3 fastest runners in each heat went to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals consisted of 4 heats. Each heat had 6 athletes each. The 3 fastest men in each quarterfinal went to the semifinals. There were 2 semifinals. Each semifinal had 6 runners. The 3 fastest athletes in each semifinal went to the finals. The final had 6 runners. Before, some 200 metres races were on a straight trace. These races were run on the new standard 400-metre track.

Records

Before this competition, these were the world and Olympic records.

World record		20.6*
Olympic record	Eddie Tolan (USA)	21.2	Los Angeles, United States	3 August 1932

^*On straightaway. No world record existed for running on a curve.

Jesse Owens beat the Olympic record in the 3rd heat. He ran 21.1 seconds. He tied that time in the 3rd quarterfinal. Mack Robinson tied that time in the 1st semifinal. He also tied that time in the final. However, Owens had won with the time of 20.7 seconds. This beat the Olympic record. It also was the unofficial record for the 200 metres on a curved track.

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 3 runners in each heat went to the quarterfinal.

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Wil van Beveren	Netherlands	21.4	Q
2	Tomás Beswick	Argentina	22.1	Q
3	Mutsuo Taniguchi	Japan	22.2	Q
4	Antonio Salcedo	Philippines	Unknown
5	José de Almeida	Brazil	Unknown
6	Aristidis Sakellariou	Greece	Unknown

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Tinus Osendarp	Netherlands	21.7	Q
2	Egon Schein	Germany	22.0	Q
3	Alan Pennington	Great Britain	22.1	Q
4	Masao Yazawa	Japan	22.4
5	Pierre Dondelinger	France	Unknown
6	Xaver Frick	Liechtenstein	Unknown

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Jesse Owens	United States	21.1	Q, OR
2	Lee Orr	Canada	21.6	Q
3	Karl Neckermann	Germany	21.8	Q
4	Arthur Sweeney	Great Britain	22.1
5	Nemesio de Guzman	Philippines	22.9
6	Gunnar Christensen	Denmark	23.1

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bruce Humber	Canada	22.1	Q
2	Gyula Gyenes	Hungary	22.1	Q
3	Felix Rinner	Austria	22.4	Q
4	Paul Bronner	France	22.6
5	Chen Kingkwan	Republic of China	Unknown

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Paul Hänni	Switzerland	21.9	Q
2	Renos Frangoudis	Greece	22.1	Q
3	József Sir	Hungary	22.2	Q
4	Poh Kimseng	Republic of China	Unknown
5	Pat Dannaher	South Africa	Unknown

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Marthinus Theunissen	South Africa	21.7	Q
2	Howard McPhee	Canada	21.8	Q
3	Börje Strandvall	Finland	22.6	Q
4	George Fahoum	Egypt	Unknown
5	Liu Changchun	Republic of China	Unknown
6	Antonio Fondevilla	Argentina	Unknown

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bob Packard	United States	21.2	Q
2	Eric Grimbeek	South Africa	21.8	Q
3	Albert Steinmetz	Germany	21.9	Q
4	Eric Whiteside	India	Unknown

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mack Robinson	United States	21.6	Q
2	Aki Tammisto	Finland	22.2	Q
3	Carlos Hofmeister	Argentina	22.3	Q
4	Dieudonné Devrindt	Belgium	Unknown
5	Mario Minai	Hungary	Unknown
6	Alfred König	Austria	Unknown

Quarterfinals

The 3 fastest runners in each quarterfinal went to the semifinal.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Lee Orr	Canada	21.2	Q
2	Paul Hänni	Switzerland	21.3	Q
3	Bob Packard	United States	21.3	Q
4	József Sir	Hungary	21.6
5	Egon Schein	Germany	21.7
6	Tomás Beswick	Argentina	Unknown

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Wil van Beveren	Netherlands	21.7	Q
2	Marthinus Theunissen	South Africa	21.9	Q
3	Bruce Humber	Canada	22.1	Q
4	Renos Frangoudis	Greece	Unknown
5	Mutsuo Taniguchi	Japan	Unknown
6	Carlos Hofmeister	Argentina	Unknown

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Jesse Owens	United States	21.1	Q, =OR
2	Howard McPhee	Canada	21.8	Q
3	Eric Grimbeek	South Africa	21.9	Q
4	Aki Tammisto	Finland	22.0
5	Felix Rinner	Austria	Unknown
—	Albert Steinmetz	Germany	DSQ

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mack Robinson	United States	21.2	Q
2	Tinus Osendarp	Netherlands	21.3	Q
3	Karl Neckermann	Germany	21.6	Q
4	Gyula Gyenes	Hungary	Unknown
5	Börje Strandvall	Finland	Unknown
—	Alan Pennington	Great Britain	DNS

Semifinals

The 3 fastest times in each semifinal went to the finals.

Semifinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Mack Robinson	United States	21.1	Q, =OR
2	Lee Orr	Canada	21.3	Q
3	Wil van Beveren	Netherlands	21.5	Q
4	Bob Packard	United States	21.6
5	Karl Neckermann	Germany	21.8
6	Eric Grimbeek	South Africa	22.2

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Jesse Owens	United States	21.3	Q
2	Tinus Osendarp	Netherlands	21.5	Q
3	Paul Hänni	Switzerland	21.6	Q
4	Marthinus Theunissen	South Africa	21.8
5	Bruce Humber	Canada	22.0
6	Howard McPhee	Canada	22.0

Final

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	Jesse Owens	United States	20.7	WR
	Mack Robinson	United States	21.1
	Tinus Osendarp	Netherlands	21.3
4	Paul Hänni	Switzerland	21.6
5	Lee Orr	Canada	21.6
6	Wil van Beveren	Netherlands	21.9