Athletics at the 1996 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games
Host City: Atlanta, United States
Venue(s): Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Date Started: July 31, 1996
Date Finished: August 1, 1996
Gold: | ![]() |
Silver: | ![]() |
Bronze: | ![]() |
[Michael Johnson] had been favored to win in 1992 until a stomach virus weakened him and he lost in the semi-final. By 1996, he was a prohibitive favorite, not having lost since 1994 over 200 metres, and had won the 1995 World Championships. He was looking for a 200/400 double in Atlanta. At the US Olympic Trials, Johnson finally bettered [Pietro Mennea]'s world record from 1979, running 19.66 to make the US team. His challengers were felt to be Namibian [Frankie Fredericks], the 1992 silver medalist, and Trinidad's [Ato Boldon]. Only two weeks before the Olympics, Fredericks had beaten Johnson, snapping his win streak at the distance. By the night of the 200 final Johnson had already won his 400 gold medal. Coming off the curve, there was little to choose between the three favorites, Johnson having a slight lead. But then he found another gear, finishing in 19.32, a time that seemed almost like a mistake. Fredericks held on for his second consecutive silver medal with Boldon winning bronze. Boldon later said, )19.32. That's not a time. It sounds like my dad's birthday.)
Rank | Athlete | Age | Team | NOC | Medal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michael Johnson | 28 | United States | USA | Gold | WR |
2 | Frankie Fredericks | 28 | Namibia | NAM | Silver | |
3 | Ato Boldon | 22 | Trinidad and Tobago | TTO | Bronze | |
4 | Obadele Thompson | 20 | Barbados | BAR | ||
5 | Jeff Williams | 30 | United States | USA | ||
6 | Iván GarcÃa | 24 | Cuba | CUB | ||
7 | Patrick Stevens | 28 | Belgium | BEL | ||
8 | Mike Marsh | 28 | United States | USA | ||
5 h1 r3/4 | Francis Obikwelu | 17 | Nigeria | NGR | ||
5 h2 r3/4 | Steve Brimacombe | 25 | Australia | AUS | ||
6 h1 r3/4 | John Regis | 29 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
6 h2 r3/4 | Koji Ito | 26 | Japan | JPN | ||
7 h1 r3/4 | Emmanuel Tuffour | 29 | Ghana | GHA | ||
7 h2 r3/4 | Sergejs Inšakovs | 24 | Latvia | LAT | ||
8 h1 r3/4 | Neil De Silva | 26 | Trinidad and Tobago | TTO | ||
8 h2 r3/4 | Geir Moen | 27 | Norway | NOR | ||
4 h1 r2/4 | Erik Wijmeersch | 26 | Belgium | BEL | ||
4 h2 r2/4 | Róbson da Silva | 31 | Brazil | BRA | ||
4 h3 r2/4 | Robert MaÄkowiak | 26 | Poland | POL | ||
4 h5 r2/4 | Linford Christie | 36 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
5 h1 r2/4 | Percy Spencer | 21 | Jamaica | JAM | ||
5 h2 r2/4 | Jordi Mayoral | 23 | Spain | ESP | ||
5 h3 r2/4 | Anninos Markoullidis | 25 | Cyprus | CYP | ||
5 h4 r2/4 | Albert Agyemang | 18 | Ghana | GHA | ||
5 h5 r2/4 | Edson Ribeiro | 23 | Brazil | BRA | ||
6 h1 r2/4 | Troy Douglas | 33 | Bermuda | BER | ||
6 h2 r2/4 | Georgios Panagiotopoulos | 26 | Greece | GRE | ||
6 h3 r2/4 | Vladyslav Dolohodin | 24 | Ukraine | UKR | ||
6 h4 r2/4 | Seun Ogunkoya | 18 | Nigeria | NGR | ||
6 h5 r2/4 | Torbjörn Eriksson | 25 | Sweden | SWE | ||
7 h1 r2/4 | Javier Navarro | 29 | Spain | ESP | ||
7 h3 r2/4 | Elston Cawley | 20 | Jamaica | JAM | ||
7 h4 r2/4 | Joseph Loua | 19 | Guinea | GUI | ||
7 h5 r2/4 | Carlos Gats | 26 | Argentina | ARG | ||
8 h2 r2/4 | Oumar Loum | 22 | Senegal | SEN | ||
8 h3 r2/4 | Franck Waota | 24 | Cote d'Ivoire | CIV | ||
8 h5 r2/4 | Gary Ryan | 24 | Ireland | IRL | ||
AC h4 r2/4 | Claudinei da Silva | 25 | Brazil | BRA | ||
4 h2 r1/4 | Owusu Dako | 23 | Great Britain | GBR | ||
4 h5 r1/4 | Pierre Lisk | 24 | Sierra Leone | SLE | ||
4 h9 r1/4 | Alain Reimann | 29 | Switzerland | SUI | ||
4 h10r1/4 | Mark Keddell | 21 | New Zealand | NZL | ||
4 h11r1/4 | Sebastián Keitel | 23 | Chile | CHI | ||
5 h1 r1/4 | Alfred Visagie | 23 | South Africa | RSA | ||
5 h2 r1/4 | Thomas Smbokos | 24 | Greece | GRE | ||
5 h3 r1/4 | Joseph Gikonyo | 31 | Kenya | KEN | ||
5 h4 r1/4 | Benjamin Sirimou | 27 | Cameroon | CMR | ||
5 h5 r1/4 | Lars Hedner | 29 | Sweden | SWE | ||
5 h6 r1/4 | Boevi Lawson | 30 | Togo | TOG | ||
5 h7 r1/4 | O'Brian Gibbons | 25 | Canada | CAN | ||
5 h8 r1/4 | Matthew Coad | 20 | New Zealand | NZL | ||
5 h9 r1/4 | Ousmane Diarra | 29 | Mali | MLI | ||
5 h10r1/4 | Justice Dipeba | 22 | Botswana | BOT | ||
5 h11r1/4 | Christoph Pöstinger | 24 | Austria | AUT | ||
6 h1 r1/4 | Mohamed Al-Houti | 23 | Oman | OMA | ||
6 h2 r1/4 | Anton Ivanov | 25 | Bulgaria | BUL | ||
6 h3 r1/4 | Chris Donaldson | 21 | New Zealand | NZL | ||
6 h4 r1/4 | Antoine Boussombo | 28 | Gabon | GAB | ||
6 h5 r1/4 | Thomas Griesser | 29 | Austria | AUT | ||
6 h6 r1/4 | Anderson Vilien | 24 | Haiti | HAI | ||
6 h7 r1/4 | Andrey Fedoriv | 32 | Russia | RUS | ||
6 h8 r1/4 | Amos Ali | 20 | Papua New Guinea | PNG | ||
6 h9 r1/4 | Mohamed Al-Aswad | 20 | United Arab Emirates | UAE | ||
6 h10r1/4 | Carlton Chambers | 21 | Canada | CAN | ||
6 h11r1/4 | Sandro Floris | 31 | Italy | ITA | ||
7 h1 r1/4 | Takahiro Mazuka | 20 | Japan | JPN | ||
7 h2 r1/4 | David Wilson | 18 | Guam | GUM | ||
7 h3 r1/4 | Tao Wu-Shiun | 23 | Chinese Taipei | TPE | ||
7 h5 r1/4 | Pascal Dangbo | 24 | Benin | BEN | ||
7 h6 r1/4 | Peter Ogilvie | 24 | Canada | CAN | ||
7 h7 r1/4 | Brahim Abdoulaye | 25 | Chad | CHA | ||
7 h8 r1/4 | Laurence Jack | 28 | Vanuatu | VAN | ||
7 h10r1/4 | Miguel Janssen | 25 | Aruba | ARU | ||
7 h11r1/4 | Chen Wenzhong | 25 | China | CHN | ||
8 h2 r1/4 | Mohamed Ould Brahim | 28 | Mauritania | MTN | ||
8 h5 r1/4 | Hadhari Djaffar | 17 | Comoros | COM | ||
8 h6 r1/4 | Gustavo Envela | 28 | Equatorial Guinea | GEQ | ||
AC | Dean Capobianco | 26 | Australia | AUS | DQ (doping) |