Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres
| Men's 200 metres at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
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| Venue | Centennial Olympic Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Date | July 31-August 1 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 78 from 57 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Michael Johnson |
 United States
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Frank Fredericks |
 Namibia
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Ato Boldon |
 Trinidad and Tobago
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These are the official results of the men's 200 metres event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were a total number of 78 participating athletes (plus three non-starters), with eleven qualifying heats (78), five second-round races (40), two semi-finals (16) and a final (8).
By the summer of 1996, Pietro Mennea's world record of 19.72 had stood for almost 17 years. Carl Lewis (19.73 in 1983), and Michael Marsh (19.73 in 1992) had come tantalizingly close to it, but eased up. Finally at the Olympic Trials, Michael Johnson knocked .06 off the record. In Atlanta, Johnson was the clear favorite and was attempting an unprecedented men's 200/400 double (Valerie Brisco-Hooks did the double in 1984 and Marie-José Pérec had just completed the double less than ten minutes before the men's 200 metres final). Johnson occupied the same lane 3 as Pérec had just run in.
From the gun, Johnson took the lead, quickly making up the stagger on Ivan Garcia to his outside half way through the turn. Coming on to the straight, Johnson led by a metre from Frankie Fredericks and Ato Boldon, with Jeff Williams fourth. Johnson continued to pull away to the finish and won by over three metres from Fredericks, with Boldon a further metre back. Obadele Thompson closed with a strong straight to edge past Williams at the line another three metres behind Boldon. Three strides past the finish line, while others were still finishing, Johnson looked back to see the clock had stopped at 19.32 and began celebrating. His time was a Beamonesque .4 of a second faster than the world record had been just five weeks earlier, .34 faster than that performance. Far behind him, Fredericks had run 19.68, superior to the old record and Boldon had run 19.80. At that point in time, Fredericks was #2 and Boldon was #7 performer all time.
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