200 metres, Men

The defending champion was Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who had also won the title at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships, but he had some injury problems in 2011 and was beaten by his countryman Yohan Blake in both the 100 and 200 at the 2012 Jamaican Olympic Trials. However, four days before this final, Bolt had won a dominant victory in the 100 metres in London, to defend that gold medal, and as he is considered slightly stronger in the long sprint, he was a heavy favorite for 200 gold. Blake was expected to be his biggest challenger, while the Americans, normally dominant in the sprints, had no clear top 200 sprinter and were really just looking to medal. Only one American, Wallace Spearmon, made the final.

Bolt was in lane seven in the final, with all his challengers inside, Blake in lane four, Spearmon in six, and the Netherlands’ Churandy Martina in lane five. But the race was over quickly. Bolt went through the curve in 10.0, a good two metres up on Blake. The third Jamaican runner, Warren Weir, was in third entering the straightaway. And that is how they would finish, as Bolt led a Jamaican sweep of the medals, the first ever for the island nation, and Blake repeated his silver medal from the 100 metres. Bolt actually eased up in the final 25 metres, probably costing him 1/10th second, but still ran 19.32, equalling the fourth fastest performance ever. Spearmon placed fourth as the United States missed medalling in this event for only the second time in the last 18 Olympic Games.

Blake’s silvers in the 100-200 made him only the fourth runner to have done that, the last being Frankie Fredericks of Namibia in 1996, after Americans Thane Baker in 1956 and Nate Cartmell in 1904. Bolt became the first runner to defend the Olympic 100-200 double. The Jamaican medal sweep was only the third in this event, after the United States in 1904 and 1912.