Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games:

The Olympic record was 22.2, set by Walter Tewksbury (USA) in winning the gold medal at Paris in 1900. Though there was no official body to recognize world records, the fastest time on record was the 21.4 by John Maybury of the United States, set at the Western Intercollegiate Athletic Meet in 1897. Neither the United States nor Great Britain had produced a dominant long sprinter, as the most recent AAA and AAU championships had been spread among several different runners. But the 1908 AAA title had recently been won by the Irish-born Canadian, Bobby Kerr, who had also won the Canadian AAU title from 1906-08. Kerr's family had moved to Hamilton, Ontario when he was 17 years old, in 1899. By 1907 he was the greatest Canadian sprinter to date, winning over 40 events in that year alone.

The two fastest heat winners were Kerr (22.2) and the American Bill Hamilton (22.4). Both runners were drawn in the same heat in the semi-finals where Kerr was the winner in a close race and Hamilton was eliminated. Kerr went on to win the final and with the South African, Reggie Walker, winning the 100 metres, the United States failed to win either sprint for the first time. This is a relatively rare occurrence at the Olympics and has only been repeated in 1928, 1960, 1972, and 1980.