the 200 meters has been present on the
Olympic athletics program since the year
1900 while the Olympic races measured
200 meters some other meets ran 220 yard
races nevertheless 220 yards times were
also eligible for 200 meter record
consideration until the mid-1960s
the first official world record for the
200 meter on a curved track was ratified
only in 1951 due to the inconsistencies
in how the race had been run the first
man to earn the title world's fastest
human was American Bernard wafers who
held unofficial but generally accepted
world record of 21 point 2 for 220 yards
set in 1896 in 1923
Charlie paddock another American ran
21 flat he represented his country at 3
Olympic Games winning 100-meter gold and
two silvers for the 200 metres Paddock
became famous for his unusual finishing
style leaping towards the finish line at
the end of the race by 1932 both Ronald
Locke of the US and Australia's James
Carlton had run the 200 in 20.6 those
times weren't beaten until 1960 although
the performances are not considered the
official IAAF records today the first
200-meter world record officially
recognized by the IAAF belongs to the
American Andy Stanfield
who ran a 220 yard race in 20.6 in 1951
Stanfield matched that time in a
200-meter event the following year four
other runners equalled Stanfield's time
over the next eight years and then Peter
Radford of Great Britain finished in 20
point five seconds in a 220 yards race
in 1960. Three more runners matched
Radford later that year in 200-meter
with Italy's Livia Baruti turning the
trick twice
and then American Paul Drayton who
joined the crowd in 1962
Henry Carr the US then lowered the 200
meters standard reaching 20 point 2 for
220 yards in 1964 it was turning to an
all-american affair in 1966 when 21
year-old Tommy Smith hit the twenty
second flat mark at the 220 yard to set
the last 220 yard world record ratified
by the IAAF that year Smith also broke
the world record for the 200 over this
straight
when he covered the distance in 19.5
this was the first sub 20 seconds 200
meters straight or turn with a legal
wind Smith clocked nine point three in
the second hundred of the race only 44
years later Tyson Gay of the USA managed
to run faster and the specially
constructed track of the great city
games in Manchester Gay sprinted all
out for a phenomenal 9.8 eight in the
opening 100 meters and despite tiring
legs finished up with the second 100
meters in 9.5 3 at the US Olympic Trials
in 1968 John Carlos beat Smith and his
world record running in nineteen point
nine to Carlos's record was disallowed
because of the brush spiked shoes he was
wearing the IAAF banned the brush spikes
before the Summer Olympics 1968 with the
excuse that this spikes would damage
the tracks at the 1968 Summer Olympics
in Mexico
Smith nursed and injured hamstring into
the 200-meter final in the race teammate
John Carlos powered out to the lead
covering the first 100 meter in 10.3
while Smith got a slow start and was a
meter behind with 10.4 coming off the
turn Smith
charged past Carlos and sped to victory
knowing he had passed his training
partner and closest foe his victory was
so clear he raised his arms to celebrate
10 meter before the finish line still he
improved upon his own world record
running the second hundred in
astonishing
9.4
Smith's time of 19.8 3 was the fastest
recorded fully electronic 200-meter
sprint up to that time 11 years later on
the same track Pietro Mennea of Italy
was absolutely confident that he
could break the world record he claimed
that he was the best 200-meter sprinter
in the world in the 200-meter final of
the World University Games he proved
that Mennea won in a time of 19.72
running the second 100 meter in just
9.38 the validity of
this mark drew criticism over the years
due to the fact that it had been
recorded at high altitude but just to
emphasize that he was indeed the
fastest man in the world over 200 metre
Minaya clocked a time of nineteen point
nine six at his hometown of Barletta
in 1980 which was the fastest time ever
recorded at low altitude Mennea`s mark
stood for 17 years making it the longest
surviving 200 meter world record the
time still stands as the european record
in 1983 at the national championships
carl lewis might easily have broken it
he won the title in nineteen point seven
five with the splits very similar to
that in manera 10.35 and 9.40 but he
eased up 15 meters from the tape with an
easy victory if he had run hard through
the tape his time might have been close
to nineteen point six five at the
Olympic Games in Barcelona Mike Marsh
ran nineteen point seven three in the
semi finals with such ease that he led
up ten meters before the finish no doubt
if he continued all the way he would
have broken the record Marsh tried too
hard in the finals and ran twenty point
zero one he won a gold medal and looked
disappointed
Mehnaz reign ended in 1996 when american
michael johnson shattered the mark at
the US Olympic Trials where he finished
in 19.66 seconds with
ten point two five for the first 100
meter and nine point three nine for the
home stretch with that performance he
qualified to run at the
1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where he
planned to complete an unprecedented 200
400 double the 400 was a formality
he had coasted through three rounds
before racing to an Olympic record of
forty three point four nine to win the
final by nine tenths of a second he had
his first gold but the 200-meter final
was the race he'd been gunning for all
along when the gun went off Johnson
stumbled out of the blocks a bit but
quickly recovered and ran the curve
brilliantly coming through the first
hundred in 10.12 he ran the straightaway
in 9.2 finishing the race in a world
record time of 19.32
breaking by more than three tenths of a
second the previous record he had set in
the US Olympic Trials the largest
improvement ever on a 200 meter world
record with that achievement Johnson
went into uncharted territory and
experts thought his record would stand
forever it was the absolute best result
in all of athletics worth 1329 points
according to the IAAF scoring tables for
example the 100-meter equivalent of that
is nine point six five and in 1996 the
100-meter world record stood at nine
point eight four but even the greatest
records are meant to be broken and
Johnson's record fell 12 years later at
the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
Usain Bolt sprinted hard all the way
even dipping his chest to the finishing
line he became the first sprinter to run
sub ten seconds for the first hundred in
a 200-meter race with the split times at
nine point nine eight and nine point
three two he improved Johnson's record
by two hundredths of a second the
following year bolt once again produced
world record breaking time in the
200-meter final at the World
Championships in Berlin he ran the first
100 meters in nine point nine two
the second in nine point two seven and
broke his own record by eleven hundreds
of a second finishing with a time of
19.19 he won the race
by the largest margin in the world
championships history even though the
race had three other athletes running
under nineteen point nine oh the
greatest number ever in the event as we
can see most of the improvement and the
world record came from a faster first
half of the race while the second 100
meters was always somewhere around nine
point three the world record has been
standing almost ten years now
can anyone break it any time soon
Michael Johnson ran eighteen point five
seconds and a 4 200 meter relay as a
collegiate athlete and the race when he
ran in nineteen point three to was not
perfect in 2011 at Diamond League final
in Brussels Yohan Blake clocked in 19
points to six the second fastest time
ever his reaction time of 0.2 69 was the
slowest in the nine-man field giving
rise to speculation that bolts time
might have been refreshed if he had
reacted in 0.16 or better
moreover Blake ran the second half of
the race in 9.12 which is the fastest in
the history the bold record holder
himself never had a perfect 200-meter
race with a better race distribution not
so hard the first hundred faster and
more relaxed the second which he was
totally capable of in his prime the
record might already stand at 18 point
nine nine
