Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metres
Rank Lane Athlete Nationality Time Notes React
1 5 Roman Smirnov Russia 20.76 Q 0.166
2 3 Walter Dix United States 20.77 Q 0.185
3 9 Rolando Palacios Honduras 20.81 Q 0.202
4 8 Ángel David Rodríguez Spain 20.87 q 0.162
5 2 Bruno de Barros Brazil 21.15 0.162
6 7 Desislav Gunev Bulgaria 21.55 0.178
7 6 Vyacheslav Muravyev Kazakhstan 21.68 0.206
8 4 Nicolai Portelli Malta 22.31 0.180
Results -- Round 1
The Men's 200 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 18-20 August at the Beijing National Stadium. The qualifying standards were 20.59 s (A standard) and 20.75 s (B standard). Usain Bolt set a new world record of 19.30 s in the final, and won by the largest margin of victory (0.66 s, after two disqualifications) in an Olympic 200m final (previously, Walter Tewksbury had a 0.6 seconds margin of victory in the first Olympic 200 m final in 1900). Controversy arose within minutes after the medal race when Wallace Spearmon, who had finished third in 19.95 s, was disqualified for stepping out of his lane. United States officials filed a protest, but withdrew it after seeing the video and noticing that silver medalist Churandy Martina (19.82 s), who had been celebrating the second ever Olympic medal for the Netherlands Antilles, also stepped out of his lane. They filed an appeal to disqualify Martina, which after more than an hour of deliberation was granted, and the United States obtained both the silver and bronze medals. On March 6, 2009, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal by the National Olympic Committee of the Netherlands Antilles against Martina's disqualification. Shawn Crawford, who had been awarded the Olympic silver medal, reportedly gave his medal to Martina on August 28, 2008 in a tremendous show of sportsmanship.