Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres
| Men's 200 metres at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
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| Venue | Athens Olympic Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 24–26 August | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 55 from 46 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 19.79 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Shawn Crawford |
 United States
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Bernard Williams |
United States
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Justin Gatlin |
United States
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The men's 200 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 24 to 26.
The top four runners in each of the initial seven heats automatically qualified for the second round. The next four fastest runners from across the heats also qualified. Those 32 runners competed in four heats in the second round, with the top three runners from each heat and the four next fastest runners qualifying for the semifinals. There were two semifinal heats, and only the top four from each heat advanced to the final.
Barely turned eighteen, Usain Bolt came to the Olympics injured and was not able to compete at the level he had achieved earlier in the season. He was eliminated in the heats in his only Olympic defeat. He would eventually go on to win triple gold at the Beijing, London and Rio Olympics.
The final looked like a re-run of the 100 metres final, with the most of same favorites, Justin Gatlin, Francis Obikwelu and Shawn Crawford in the center of the track. Bernard Williams was the third American in the final, along with perennial silver medalist Frankie Fredericks. From the gun, Williams near the inside got a clearly better start, quickly making up a step on the stagger to Crawford to his outside. But through the turn, Crawford maintained the distance while running the further distance. Crawford and Gatlin ran about even last portion of the turn looked more powerful than Williams and Gatlin on either side. By the end of the turn, it was the three Americans in the lead, led by Crawford, Obikwelu the closest challenger a step behind. Crawford separated from Gatlin at the head of the straight and the race was for second. Gatlin held the edge down the straight until the last ten metres when Gatlin seemed to struggle and Williams cruised to silver. Next to last at the beginning of the straight, veteran Fredericks gained steadily and was able to dip past Obikwelu for fourth, but not enough to break up the American sweep.
Prior to the competition[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
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