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 record	21.34	Seoul, Korea	29 September 1988
Olympic record
2016 World leading	21.93	Oslo, Norway	9 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)

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 15 August 2016	9:35	Heats
Tuesday, 16 August 2016	22:00	Semifinals
style=background:lemonchiffon	Wednesday, 17 August 2016	style=background:lemonchiffon align=right	22:30	style=background:lemonchiffon	Finals

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	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	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	Reaction	Time
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	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	Reaction	Time
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	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	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	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	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	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	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	Reaction	Time
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	Reaction	Time
	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

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