Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres explained

Event:Women's 200 metres
Games:2016 Summer
Venue:Olympic Stadium
Dates:15 August 2016 (heats)
16 August 2016 (semifinals)
17 August 2016 (final)
Competitors:72
Nations:45
Win Value:21.78
Gold:Elaine Thompson
Goldnoc:JAM
Silver:Dafne Schippers
Silvernoc:NED
Bronze:Tori Bowie
Bronzenoc:USA
Prev:2012
Next:2020

The women's 200 metres competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium between 15–17 August.[1] The winning margin was 0.10 seconds. The winner, Elaine Thompson from Jamaica, had the fifth fastest reaction time in the final.

Summary

The fastest entrant in the field was 2015 World Champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands at 21.93 seconds for the season. The 2012 Olympic champion Allyson Felix was absent after failing to make the team at the United States Olympic Trials. Tori Bowie won that event and was the only other runner under 22 seconds that year, and also the only one to have beaten Schippers over 200 m that season. The lesser known Deajah Stevens and Jenna Prandini completed the American team (so the 2012 bronze medalist Carmelita Jeter also did not return). The Jamaican team was headed by 2015 World medallists Elaine Thompson and Veronica Campbell-Brown (the latter going for her third Olympic title). The 2012 Olympic runner-up Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce did not compete and focused on the Olympic 100 m finals. Trinidad and Tobago's Michelle-Lee Ahye and Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain were the other top ten ranked athletes to enter the race.[2] [3]

In the semi-final round, both World Championship medalists #3 of all time, Schippers and #5 of all time, Thompson ran in the first heat. Schippers won the race over Thompson, who ran her season best, but Thompson didn't look like she was running all out at the end while Schippers ran just .03 off her season best. They led Deajah Stevens and Dina Asher-Smith to the time qualifiers. Tori Bowie equalled Thompson's 22.13 in the third semi.

In the final, Thompson went out hard, making up the stagger on Ivet Lalova-Collio to her outside in the first 60 metres. She had a one-metre lead over Schippers before the end of the turn. Tori Bowie stumbled out of the blocks and was another metre back in a battle for fifth place with Dina Asher-Smith. Schippers started to gain on Thompson towards the line but did not catch the winner. Two metres behind, Bowie won the bronze medal having overtaken Asher-Smith, Michelle-Lee Ahye and 10 metres before the finish line Marie Josée Ta Lou.[4]

The following evening the medals were presented by HM King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, IOC honorary member, Kenya and Sylvia Barlag, Council Member of the IAAF.

Format

The women's 200 m competition consisted of three rounds: a round one heats stage with nine races, three semifinal races, and a single final. Each race featured eight athletes. The top two in each heat progressed to the semifinals, as did the six fastest non-qualifiers. The top two finishers in each of the three semifinals qualified for the final with the two fastest non-qualifiers.[1]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record21.34Seoul, Korea29 September 1988
Olympic record
2016 World leading21.93Oslo, Norway9 June 2016

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athlete Round Time Notes
align=left Maldives align=left Heats 24.96 s
align=left Ivory Coast align=left Final 22.21 s

Schedule

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

DateTimeRound
Monday, 15 August 2016 9:35Heats
Tuesday, 16 August 2016 22:00Semifinals
style=background:lemonchiffonWednesday, 17 August 2016 style=background:lemonchiffon align=right22:30style=background:lemonchiffonFinals

Results

Heats

Qualification rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 4 0.145 22.51
2 7 0.134 22.64
3 6 0.144 22.80 ,
4 5 0.155 22.95
5 2 0.202 22.97
6 1 0.132 23.38
7 3 0.170 23.53
8 8 0.193 24.96
Wind: +0.5 m/s

Heat 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 1 0.163 22.62
2 7 0.172 22.86 ,
3 6 0.160 22.90
4 5 0.160 22.94 ,
5 3 0.164 23.00
6 2 0.167 23.05
7 8 0.159 23.39
8 4 0.188 23.98
Wind: +0.8 m/s

Heat 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 3 0.170 22.50
2 5 0.164 22.78
3 8 0.187 23.06
4 4 0.114 23.17
5 1 0.132 23.29
6 2 0.137 23.43
7 7 0.164 23.69
8 6 0.170 25.45
Wind: +0.6 m/s

Heat 4

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 7 0.141 22.31 ,
2 4 0.177 22.63
3 3 0.207 22.80
4 2 0.183 23.19
5 6 0.151 23.33
6 1 0.157 23.67
7 8 0.146 25.16
8 5 0.263 26.99
Wind: +0.6 m/s

Heat 5

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 4 0.158 22.71
2 7 0.164 22.77
3 1 0.161 22.96
4 8 0.189 23.41
5 2 0.179 23.43
6 6 0.150 23.58
7 5 0.201 24.55
8 3 0.179 25.03
Wind: -0.1 m/s

Heat 6

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 7 0.160 22.45
2 4 0.196 22.89 ,
3 2 0.159 23.04
4 5 0.140 23.10
5 1 0.178 23.28
6 8 0.140 23.33
7 6 0.167 23.34
8 3 0.183 26.11
Wind: 0.0 m/s

Heat 7

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 6 0.136 22.61
2 3 0.155 22.66
3 4 0.135 22.69 ,
4 1 0.166 23.01
5 8 0.125 23.21
6 5 0.127 23.35
7 2 0.191 23.35
8 7 0.153 23.62
Wind: +0.5 m/s

Heat 8

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 8 0.145 22.47
2 6 0.156 22.52 ,
3 3 0.139 22.78 ,
4 1 0.129 23.03
5 5 0.166 23.27
6 2 0.149 23.41
7 7 0.155 23.65
8 4 0.173 28.02
Wind: +0.1 m/s

Heat 9

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 3 0.156 22.74 ,,
2 1 0.162 22.78
3 6 0.170 22.97
4 8 0.144 23.29
5 7 0.191 23.61
6 4 0.160 23.61
7 2 0.161 23.75
8 5 0.213 25.53
Wind: +0.6 m/s

Semifinal

Qualification rules: First 2 in each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Semifinal 1

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 3 0.139 21.96
2 4 0.164 22.13 ,
3 5 0.170 22.38
4 7 0.143 22.49
5 6 0.179 22.69
6 2 0.121 22.83
7 8 0.162 22.90
8 1 0.149 23.45
Wind: +0.1 m/s

Semifinal 2

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 3 0.156 22.28 ,
2 4 0.127 22.42 ,
3 7 0.165 22.50
4 6 0.196 22.55
5 5 0.163 22.81
6 8 0.240 22.94
7 2 0.160 22.99
8 1 0.173 22.99
Wind: +0.1 m/s

Semifinal 3

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
1 4 0.145 22.13
2 6 0.153 22.25
3 8 0.158 22.57
4 5 0.144 22.59
5 2 0.196 22.73
6 3 0.156 22.84
7 7 0.174 22.88
8 1 0.149 23.05
Wind: +0.8 m/s

Final

Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Reaction Time Notes
6 0.152 21.78
4 0.141 21.88
5 0.143 22.15
4 3 0.153 22.21
5 2 0.135 22.31
6 7 0.158 22.34
7 1 0.171 22.65
8 8 0.104 22.69
Wind: -0.1 m/s

Notes and References

  1. https://www.rio2016.com/en/athletics-standings-at-womens-200m Women's 200m - Standings
  2. Landells, Steve (2016-08-10). Preview: women's 200m – Rio 2016 Olympic Games. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-14.
  3. https://www.iaaf.org/records/toplists/sprints/200-metres/outdoor/women/senior/2016 Senior outdoor 2016 200 Metres women
  4. Web site: Elaine Thompson confirmed as the world's fastest woman with 200m gold. 18 August 2016. Guardian. 19 August 2016.