Rio Olympics 2016, Athletics: Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin and Andre De Grasse breeze into Men's 200m semi-final
Defending champion and two-time Olympic gold medal winner Usain Bolt of Jamaica breezed into the semi-finals of the 200m on Tuesday. Although he did not set the fastest time among all athletes who qualified, he was simply too fast for those in his heat. Fellow medalists in the 100m Justin Gatlin (USA) and Andre De Grasse (Canada) also qualified with ease as did Bolt’s compatriot Yohan Blake.
Qualification criteria: First two athletes in each heat qualify for the semi-final automatically followed by the next four fastest athletes.
There was a disqualification in the very first heat as Demetrius Pinder of the Bahamas made a false start. Pinder was one of the favourites to qualify from the first heat but started too soon and stumbled, leading to a disqualification and a restart. Pinder was devastated and did not even face the race official who officially disqualified him.
Jamaica’s Yohan Blake was in the second heat and he was well in the clear in the second 100 metres. By the time he reached the finish line, he had already eased up and that cost him as he finished a hundredth of a second behind Spain’s Bruno Hortelano who was in the outer lane.
Unlike Bolt, Blake did not look left or right to see if he was well in the clear before easing off. However, the top two qualify for the semi-final and Blake was through.
The third heat saw a very close contest with two athletes finishing with the same time to finish second and third. Bahrain’s Salem Eid Yaqoob finished first with a time of 20.19 seconds but both Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev and Canada’s Aaron Brown finished with a time of 20.23 seconds. In the end, the official results showed that the Turkish sprinter had finished ahead of Brown.
USA’s Justin Gatlin, fresh from a silver medal win in the 100m, ran in the fifth heat and he never looked threatened. The American sprinter took the lead early on and never relinquished it even though two athletes ran him close. Gatlin finished with a time of 20.42 seconds after easing off before the finish line knowing he had got the job done. But Matteo Galvan of Italy and Ramon Gittens of Barbados finished in 20.58 seconds with Galvan eventually given the second place finish.
Heat 6 was also closely contested with Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade finishing in 20.16 seconds while Great Britain’s Adam Gemili finishing in 20.20 seconds. Neither athlete gave in as they surged ahead of the rest of the pack and did not ease off before the finish line, letting everyone know that they meant business.
While Bolt waited for his heat, he was busy warming up in the athletes’ enclosure and even performed a little jig when he realized the camera was on him, much to the delight of the crowd inside the Rio Olympic Stadium.
Heat 8 also saw a strong finish from Lashawn Merritt. The American sprinter had won the 400m bronze medal but still put on a strong show to clock 20.15 seconds with France’s Christophe Lemaitre coming in second with a time of 20.28 seconds.
Usain Bolt soaked in the applause before his heat but once he settled into his starting block, it was all business. And there was no question about losing his heat as he took the lead in the curve itself. By the time they reached the 100m, Bolt was so far ahead that he had enough time to look to either side to ensure he would finish first and literally jogged the last 10 metres to clock 20.28 seconds – ahead of Nigeria’s Ejowvokoghene Oduduru (20.34).
100m bronze medalist Andre De Grasse ran the final heat and he made short work of it, finishing with a time of 20.09 seconds – the fastest time in the qualifying round. Great Britain’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake finished second with a time of 20.24 seconds.
The semi-finals of the men’s 200m are scheduled for Thursday, 18 August at 6:30 AM IST.
Men’s 200m – Semi-finalists
| # | Country | Athlete | Heat | Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | Andre De Grasse | 10 | 20.09 |
| 2 | Spain | Bruno Hortelano | 2 | 20.12 |
| 3 | Jamaica | Yohan Blake | 2 | 20.13 |
| 4 | Jamaica | Nickel Ashmeade | 6 | 20.15 |
| 4 | USA | Lashawn Merritt | 8 | 20.15 |
| 6 | Panama | Alonso Edward | 1 | 20.19 |
| 6 | Bahrain | Salem Eid Yaqoob | 3 | 20.19 |
| 8 | Costa Rica | Nery Brenes | 7 | 20.20 |
| 8 | Great Britain | Adam Gemili | 6 | 20.20 |
| 10 | Turkey | Ramil Guliyev | 3 | 20.23 |
| 11 | Canada | Aaron Brown | 3 | 20.23 |
| 12 | Great Britain | Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake | 10 | 20.24 |
| 13 | Trinidad & Tobago | Rondel Sorrillo | 10 | 20.27 |
| 13 | Great Britain | Daniel Talbot | 1 | 20.27 |
| 15 | Jamaica | Usain Bolt | 9 | 20.28 |
| 15 | France | Christophe Lemaitre | 8 | 20.28 |
| 17 | Mexico | Jose Carlos Herrera | 4 | 20.29 |
| 17 | Netherlands | Churandy Martina | 7 | 20.29 |
| 19 | Greece | Likourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas | 1 | 20.31 |
| 19 | USA | Ameer Webb | 2 | 20.31 |
| 21 | Nigeria | Ejowvokoghene Oduduru | 9 | 20.34 |
| 25 | USA | Justin Gatlin | 5 | 20.42 |
| 28 | Cuba | Roberto Skyers | 4 | 20.44 |