Who won silver behind Bolt in the 2008 Olympic men's 200 m after two disqualifications?

The story behind the answer

Shawn Crawford won the official silver medal behind Usain Bolt in the 2008 Olympic men’s 200 metres after two disqualifications.

Bolt won in a world-record 19.30 seconds at Beijing’s National Stadium. Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles crossed second in 19.82, while American Wallace Spearmon finished third in 19.95. Both were disqualified for lane infringements, promoting Crawford and Walter Dix to silver and bronze.

The result has an unusual footnote: Crawford later gave his silver medal to Martina as a gesture of sportsmanship. That act sometimes causes quiz answers to list Martina, but the official Olympic result remained Crawford as silver medalist. Crawford had won the 200 metres at the 2004 Athens Olympics, making him one of the event’s leading specialists.

Bolt’s 19.30 broke Michael Johnson’s Olympic record and stood as the world record until Bolt lowered it to 19.19 at the 2009 World Championships.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

Add question to a list

Choose a list to keep this question in: