I have long maintained that the single greatest athletic feat I’ve ever seen was Michael Johnson destroying the world record in the 200m at the 1996 Olympics. Usain “Lightning” Bolt did quite a number on the 100m a few days ago, but he says his best event is the 200.
This morning, I stumbled across this chart. Rather than link to it and help kill his bandwitch, I’ve pasted it in here.
This chart shows the twenty fastest 200m marks of all time. Each row represents a hundredth of a second. Eyeballing the chart would suggest that the cutting edge of human achievement in the 200m is anything sub-19.7. A 19.59 at Beijing would be phenomenal. Then you scroll down—way down—and you hit Johnson’s 19.32. Usain Bolt has his work cut out for him.
| Time | Athlete |
|---|---|
| 19.77 | Michael Johnson (1996), Ato Boldon (1997) |
| 19.76 | Tyson Gay (2007), Usain Bolt (2008) |
| 19.75 | Carl Lewis (1983), Joe DeLoach (1988), Usain Bolt (2007) |
| 19.73 | Michael Marsh (1992) |
| 19.72 A | Pietro Mennea (1979) |
| 19.71 A | Michael Johnson (2000) |
| 19.70 | Tyson Gay (2006) |
| 19.69 | Walter Dix (2007) |
| 19.68 | Frank Fredericks (1996), Tyson Gay (2006) |
| 19.67 | Usain Bolt (2008) |
| 19.66 | Michael Johnson (1996) |
| 19.65 | Wallace Spearmon (2006) |
| 19.63 | Xavier Carter (2006) |
| 19.62 | Tyson Gay (2007) |
| 19.32 | Michael Johnson (1996) |
That really puts things in perspective. Again, this is a sport where victories are measured in hundreths of a second. Nobody has come closer than three tenths of a second in more than ten years.
Comments
One Comment
I just watched that full video. Incredible. Also, I found this:
“When Johnson broke the world record for the 200 meter dash at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, he ran the first 100 meters in 10.12 seconds. As incredible as it may sound, he ran the second 100 meters in 9.19 seconds which, as of October 15, 2007, is .55 seconds below the world record in the 100 meter dash. Historians have compared that run with the long jump of Bob Beamon in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City where he broke the existing world record by 21 3/4 inches or .55 meters.” (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_Michael_Johnson%27s_split_time_for_200_meter_dash)
HE RAN THE SECOND 100M in 9.19 - Bolt just ran a 9.69.
I’m going to write that again: HE RAN THE SECOND 100M in 9.19
Posted August 19, 2008 at 4:13 pm by Bryan Buchs .