1932 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 200 m (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	200 meter run
gender	Men
Attendees	25 athletes from 13 countries
Competition location	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Competition phase	August 2, 1932 (preliminary / quarter-finals) August 3, 1932 (semi-finals / final)
Medalist Eddie Tolan ( USA )   George Simpson ( USA )   Ralph Metcalfe ( USA )

The men's 200-meter run at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles was held on August 2 and 3, 1932 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . 25 athletes took part. For the first time at the Olympic Games, starting pistols , electronic timekeeping and target photos were used, but electronic timekeeping was only used unofficially.

The US team celebrated a triple success. Eddie Tolan won the gold medal in front of his compatriots George Simpson and Ralph Metcalfe .

Existing records

• World record : 20.6 s (straight track, rounded up from 20.6 s over 220 yards ) - Roland Locke ( USA ), Lincoln , May 1, 1926 / 21.0 s (full curve) - Charles Paddock ( USA ), Paris , May 6, 1923
• Olympic record : 21.6s - Archie Hahn ( USA ), Olympic Games in Los Angeles , August 31, 1904 / - Jackson Scholz ( USA ), Paris final , July 9, 1924

Conducting the competition

On August 2nd, the runners competed in seven preliminary runs. The three fastest athletes each qualified for the quarter-finals on the same day. The three best runners from the four quarter-finals also made it to the next round, the semi-finals. In the preliminary rounds, the top three qualified for the final. The two semi-finals and the final took place on August 3rd.

Note: The qualified athletes are highlighted in light blue. The run times given are the hand-stopped results from the official report. The remeasured results of the electrical timing are, if available, in the note.

Prelims

Date: August 2, 1932

Forward 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Erich Borchmeyer	German Empire	22.1 s
2	Takayoshi Yoshioka	Japan	22.3 s
3	Stanley Engelhart	Great Britain	k. A.

Forward 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	William Walters	South African Union	21.9 s
2	Eddie Tolan	United States	22.0 s
3	Stanley Fuller	Great Britain	22.4 s
4th	Enrique Sánchez	Mexico	22.8 s

Forward 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Harold Wright	Canada	22.8 s
2	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	22.9 s
3	Stuart Black	New Zealand	23.1 s
4th	Liu Changchun	China	23.4 s

Liu Changchun was the first athlete to take part in the Olympic Games for what was then the Republic of China .

Forward 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Itaro Nakajima	Japan	22.2 s
2	Fritz Hendrix	German Empire	22.9 s

Forward 5

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Roberto Genta	Argentina	25.3 s
2	Christiaan Berger	Netherlands	26.1 s
3	George Simpson	United States	29.0 s

Forward 6

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	21.9 s
2	Allan Elliot	New Zealand	22.2 s
3	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	22.3 s
4th	Andrej Engel	Czechoslovakia	22.3 s
5	Everardo Múzquiz	Mexico	23.0 s

Forward 7

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Birchall Pearson	Canada	22.3 s
2	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	22.3 s
3	Teiichi Nishi	Japan	22.4 s
4th	Ronald Vernieux	British India	22.4 s

Quarter finals

Date: August 2, 1932

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	21.5 s	OR
2	William Walters	South African Union	21.5 s
3	Erich Borchmeyer	German Empire	21.6 s
4th	Itaro Nakajima	Japan	21.9 s
5	Christiaan Berger	Netherlands	22.0 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eddie Tolan	United States	21.5 s	ORe
2	Birchall Pearson	Canada	21.7 s
3	Roberto Genta	Argentina	21.8 s
4th	Fritz Hendrix	German Empire	21.9 s
5	Stanley Fuller	Great Britain	22.0 s

Run 3

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	21.4 s	OR
2	George Simpson	United States	21.5 s
3	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	21.7 s
4th	Takayoshi Yoshioka	Japan	21.8 s
5	Stuart Black	New Zealand	22.0 s

Run 4

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	21.4 s	ORe
2	Harold Wright	Canada	21.7 s
3	Allan Elliot	New Zealand	21.8 s
4th	Stanley Engelhart	Great Britain	21.9 s
5	Teiichi Nishi	Japan	22.1 s

Semifinals

Date: August 3, 1932

Run 1

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	21.5 s
2	George Simpson	United States	21.5 s
3	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	21.6 s
4th	Daniel Joubert	South African Union	21.7 s
5	Erich Borchmeyer	German Empire	21.8 s
6th	Birchall Pearson	Canada	21.9 s

Run 2

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	21.5 s
2	William Walters	South African Union	21.7 s
3	Eddie Tolan	United States	21.7 s
4th	Harold Wright	Canada	21.8 s
5	Allan Elliot	New Zealand	21.9 s
6th	Roberto Genta	Argentina	22.0 s

final

space	Surname	nation	time	annotation
1	Eddie Tolan	United States	21.2 s	OR - electronic: 21.12 s
2	George Simpson	United States	21.4 s
3	Ralph Metcalfe	United States	21.5 s
4th	Arthur Jonath	German Empire	21.5 s
5	Carlos Bianchi	Argentina	21.6 s
6th	William Walters	South African Union	21.9 s

Date: August 3, 1932

Ralph Metcalfe, silver medalist over the 100 meters , was rated higher over the longer distance than the 100-meter Olympic champion Eddie Tolan. In fact, Metcalfe was only third behind Tolan and teammate George Simpson. Tolan was a double Olympic champion in the sprint . Subsequent film analyzes of the race revealed that Metcalfe's lane was one and a half meters longer than that of the other runners because it had been assigned the wrong course marker. He was offered a re-race, but Metcalfe declined. He said he could have been more careful and accepted the result. The Americans won all three medals, fourth after his third place over 100 meters was the German Arthur Jonath.

For the USA it was the sixth success in the eighth Olympic final over 200 meters.

Picture gallery

• 

  Olympic Champion Eddie Tolan (USA) - photo from 1930

• 

  The Japanese Takayoshi Yoshioka was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

• 

  For Christiaan Berger (NED), who later became double European sprint champion from 1934 , the quarter-finals were over.

• 

  Liu Changchun, the first Chinese to compete in the Olympic Games, was eliminated in the preliminary stages.

literature

• Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896-1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 226f

Web links

• SportsReference 200 m , accessed September 16, 2017
• Official report pp. 404-409, engl. (PDF), accessed on September 16, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 227
2. ↑ Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 1: 1896–1936, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 2nd edition 1970, p. 192
3. ↑ SportsReference (Eng.)