19.32
August 18, 2008 12:10 PM
Watching the first few days of the Beijing Olympics, I couldn’t help but muse at how ho-hum breaking a swimming world record seems. Not to downplay the incredible talent of the athletes, but it seems that the limits of human physical achievement in the pool are yet to be established, what with the frequency of new world records since the advent of Speedo’s LZR Racer speedsuits. In this Olympics alone, there have been 25 world records set (and some subsequently broken), and all but two Olympic records have been broken.
That, coupled with Usain Bolt’s stunning 9.69 in the men’s 100m, got me thinking about another world record: Michael Johnson’s unbelievable 200m sprint at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Johnson himself says he’s ready to see Bolt break his record, which is surprising given how untouchable Johnson’s mark seems. I remember seeing a chart about a decade ago that illustrated how dominant Johnson’s record is, and seeing how I couldn’t track it down with Google, I’ve recreated it here (if anyone can find the original chart, circa 1998 or so, I’d love to give credit to the original creator).
This chart shows the twenty twenty-one 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 (seconds) |
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) |
| 19.30 | Usain Bolt (2008) |
This data is taken from the IAAF’s website (note: the all-time page didn’t include two 2008 runs by Usain Bolt; I’ve added them to the chart). I’m not sure what the “A” stands for—altitude, maybe?
Some other interesting notes from the chart:
- The previous world record of 19.72, set by Italy’s Pietro Mennea, held for 17 years (Johnson broke it at the 1996 Olympic Trials), and was seriously challenged only four times during that period.
- Frank Fredericks ran a 19.68 to claim silver behind Johnson at the 1996 Olympics. They would be the only men to run the 200m faster than Mennea for 10 years, until Xavier Carter and Tyson Gay ran 19.63 and 19.68 respectively in a 2006 race.
- Gay holds four of the twenty fastest marks—the same number as Johnson— including the second-fastest of all time. Unfortunately, Gay failed to qualify for the 200m at Beijing.
Update: So that’s what it’s like to be linked by Jason Kottke. Thank you and thanks for visiting everyone. Sorry about the comment verification—been having a beastly time with comment spam lately, though that seems to have died down, so I’ll temporarily allow commenting again.
And for the record, I’m pretty sure “A” stands for “Altitude,” since the IAAF site doesn’t list wind-aided times, such as the 9.68 Tyson Gay posted a few weeks back in the 100.
Update 2: Needed to make an update.
A for wind-Assisted maybe ?
Could "A" stand for "assisted," as in "wind assisted"?
The A is for "aided" - namely, wind aided. Johnson's 1996 run had a wind just under what the threshold is for the run not to qualify for world record status. That said, day-am.
Shame Gay didn't qualify, I was looking forward to see him run this. Can't time injuries I suppose. Very well thought out way of arranging this chart too.
I thought the "A" might represent "aided," as in wind-aided, but looking at the wind speeds on the IAAF site, that's not the case. So I'm thinking you're correct that it's "altitude," since a number of the times with an "A" are locales that sit well above sea-level (Sestriere, for example, boasts Europe's highest golf course, according to Wikipedia; Mexico City is more than 7,000 feet above sea-level).
Great chart, and really brings it home!
great write up and great chart.
i think what the A stands for is 'aided' as in 'wind aided' - ... if a race takes place with a wind over a certain MPH then any records dont count.
so maybe thats what the A is signifying...just a guess though.
"A" denotes races held above 1000m in altitude.
The A stands for wind-assisted?
The best site for track&field statistics is http://www.alltime-athletics.com/index.html. Highly recommended. More exhaustive and better updated than anything else I have seen.
if Usain can contain himself from celebrating, he might have a chance to break Michael Johnson's record - but it looks improbable at this time since Usain hasn't really even come close to a 19.32
"A" is for "altitude". Air changes significantly with altitude, which impacts the performance. Mennea went to a minor meeting in Mexico City on purpose to make the record, and there was a bit of a controversy over this at the time .
19.30 done and delivered. Unbelievable.
_ryan