Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres

Women's 200 metres
at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Women's 200 metres; at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Venue	Athens Olympic Stadium
Date	23–25 August
Competitors	44 from 32 nations
Winning time	22.05
Medalists
	← 2000 2008 →

The women'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.^[1] The winning margin was 0.13 seconds. The winner had the second slowest reaction time in the final.

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 from each heat and the four next fastest overall advancing to the semifinals. In two semifinal heats, only the top four runners from each heat moved on to the final.

Leading up to the Olympic final, Jamaica's Veronica Campbell was considered a pre-race favorite of this event, as she had previously managed to beat her own world leading time in the semifinals. She was also expected to challenge the youngster Allyson Felix, who had quickly become the top medal contender for the Americans. From the blocks, Campbell took a commanding lead with a strong curve and kept her form in the last few strides of the track to hold off a charge from Felix for the Olympic title at 22.05 seconds. Felix closed the race quickly to get the silver medal and set the world junior record.^[2] On the outside, Bahamian sprinter Debbie Ferguson was immediately chased by Campbell's teammate Aleen Bailey, but the places were clearly decided.^[3]

Records

Prior to the competition^[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Florence Griffith-Joyner (USA)	21.34 s	Seoul, South Korea	29 September 1988
Olympic record	Florence Griffith-Joyner (USA)	21.34 s	Seoul, South Korea	29 September 1988

No new records were set during the competition.

Qualification

The qualification period for athletics took place from 1 January 2003 to 9 August 2004. For the women's 200 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 22.97 seconds or faster during the qualification period. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had run the race in 23.12 seconds or faster could be entered.

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 23 August 2004	11:00 20:25	Round 1 Quarterfinals
Tuesday, 24 August 2004	22:05	Semifinals
Wednesday, 25 August 2004	23:20	Final

Results

Round 1

Qualification rule: The first four finishers in each heat (Q) plus the next four fastest overall runners (q) qualified.^[4]

Heat 1

Wind: +0.4 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	7	Veronica Campbell	Jamaica	0.252	22.59	Q
2	6	Alenka Bikar	Slovenia	0.217	23.09	Q
3	3	La Shauntea Moore	United States	0.253	23.10	Q
4	4	Lucimar de Moura	Brazil	0.211	23.40	Q
5	2	Heide Seyerling	South Africa	0.187	23.66
6	5	Monika Gachevska	Bulgaria	0.175	23.71

Heat 2

Wind: +1.7 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	3	Ivet Lalova	Bulgaria	0.168	22.88	Q
2	5	Sylviane Félix	France	0.295	22.94	Q
3	6	Yekaterina Kondratyeva	Russia	0.225	23.03	Q
4	2	Natallia Safronnikava	Belarus	0.167	23.28	Q
5	4	Lyubov Perepelova	Uzbekistan	0.306	24.10
6	7	Gretta Taslakian	Lebanon	0.260	24.30	NR

Heat 3

Wind: +1.6 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	5	Cydonie Mothersille	Cayman Islands	0.266	22.40	Q, NR
2	6	Beverly McDonald	Jamaica	0.191	22.90	Q
3	7	Yelena Bolsun	Russia	0.262	23.00	Q
4	3	Joice Maduaka	Great Britain	0.172	23.15	Q
5	4	Saraswati Saha	India	0.275	23.43
6	2	Gcinile Moyane	Swaziland	0.230	25.62	NR

Heat 4

Wind: +2.0 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	2	Allyson Felix	United States	0.212	22.39	Q
2	5	Abi Oyepitan	Great Britain	0.180	22.50	Q, PB
3	7	Maryna Maydanova	Ukraine	0.265	22.76	Q, SB
4	3	Muriel Hurtis	France	0.217	22.77	Q, SB
5	4	Karin Mayr-Krifka	Austria	0.189	22.81	q, SB
6	6	Mary Onyali-Omagbemi	Nigeria	0.237	23.37	q
7	8	Gladys Thompson	Liberia	0.281	27.51

Heat 5

Wind: +2.1 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	4	Muna Lee	United States	0.197	22.57	Q
2	2	Tatyana Levina	Russia	0.187	23.05	Q
3	5	La Verne Jones	Virgin Islands	0.239	23.20	Q
4	3	Marilia Gregoriou	Cyprus	0.192	23.23	Q
5	6	Emma Wade	Belize	0.206	23.43
6	7	Michelle Banga Moudzoula	Republic of the Congo	0.247	24.37

Heat 6

Wind: −0.2 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	2	Aleen Bailey	Jamaica	0.218	22.73	Q
2	7	Kim Gevaert	Belgium	0.187	22.76	Q
3	6	Olga Kaidantzi	Greece	0.284	23.11	Q
4	3	Fabienne Feraez	Benin	0.181	23.12	Q, =NR
5	4	Johanna Manninen	Finland	0.166	23.45	SB
6	5	Kadiatou Camara	Mali	0.287	23.56

Heat 7

Wind: +1.4 m/s

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	2	Debbie Ferguson	Bahamas	0.171	22.57	Q, SB
2	7	Christine Arron	France	0.252	22.60	Q, SB
3	6	Merlene Ottey	Slovenia	0.254	22.72	Q, NR
4	4	Lauren Hewitt	Australia	0.165	22.87	Q, SB
5	3	Digna Murillo	Colombia	0.149	22.98	q, PB
6	5	Anna Pacholak	Poland	0.283	23.00	q, SB