Track & Field | August 04, 2021
Andre De Grasse won the men's 200m gold medal and broke his own Canadian record to highlight USC's action during the evening session on the sixth day of track and field at the 2020 Olympics at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan today (Aug. 4). De Grasse's win continues USC's amazing streak of capturing at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympics since 1912 and it is the fifth consecutive Olympics with a track and field gold medal. Allyson Felix also continued her quest for a record 10th Olympic medal by advancing to the women's 400m final.
De Grasse (USC 2015), competing for Canada, won the men's 200m final with a national record-time of 19.62 (-0.5) to win the gold medal, the first in the event by a Canadian male since Percy Williams in 1928. De Grasse broke his Canadian record of 19.80 (-0.3) set in the semifinals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he earned a silver medal.Â
For De Grasse it is his fifth Olympic medal, having now won a gold, a silver and three bronze medals. De Grasse became USC's first Olympic 200m champion since Don Quarrie won gold for Jamaica at the 1976 Olympics. With his silver medal won in 2016, De Grasse is now tied for second with 10 others having claimed two medals in the Olympic 200m race. He is one of four to have won gold and silver medals, joining Americans Andy Stanfield, Carl Lewis and Shawn Crawford. Only Usain Bolt of Jamaica has won more than one gold medal or more than two overall medals, with his three golds in the 200m race.
Other Trojan Track Highlights
- Fellow Canadian Aaron Brown (USC 2014) finished sixth in the 200m final with a time of 20.20 (-0.5). De Grasse is also expected to compete on Canada's 4x100m relay team today at 7:39 p.m. (11:39 a.m. on Aug. 5 in Japan).
- Nine-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix (USC 2008) continues her quest for a 10th medal by took second in her women's 400m semifinal with a season-best time of 49.89 to automatically advance to the final on Aug. 6 at 5:35 a.m. PT. Felix's time was seventh among the qualifiers to the final.
- Kyra Constantine (USC 2021), also running for Canada, took fifth in the same semifinal and finished 15th overall with a time of 51.22.
- Trojans potentially in action on Day 7 of track and field at the 2020 Olympics are:Â Kyra Constantine (W-4x400m), Andre De Grasse (M-4x100m), Kendall Ellis (W-4x40m), Allyson Felix (W-4x400m), Michael Norman (M-200m Final), Nicole Yeargin (W-4x400m)
