Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's 200 metres

The Men's 200 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea had an entrylist of 76 competitors, with ten qualifying heats (76), five second-round races (40) and two semi-finals (16), before the final (8) took off on Wednesday September 28, 1988.

These were the standing World and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.

The following Olympic record was set during this competition.

Carl Lewis' time of 19.79 seconds was the fastest non-winning time until the 1996 Olympic final.

First 3 from each heat (Q) and the next 10 fastest (q) qualified for the quarterfinals.

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