Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

Men's 100 metres at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
The finalists awaiting starters orders
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	4–5 August 2012
Competitors	75 from 61 nations
Winning time	9.63 s
Medalists
Usain Bolt   Jamaica   Yohan Blake   Jamaica   Justin Gatlin   United States

Official video

Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m		men		women
200 m		men		women
400 m		men		women
800 m		men		women
1500 m		men		women
5000 m		men		women
10,000 m		men		women
100 m hurdles				women
110 m hurdles		men
400 m hurdles		men		women
3000 m steeplechase		men		women
4×100 m relay		men		women
4×400 m relay		men		women
Road events
Marathon		men		women
20 km walk		men		women
50 km walk		men
Field events
Long jump		men		women
Triple jump		men		women
High jump		men		women
Pole vault		men		women
Shot put		men		women
Discus throw		men		women
Javelin throw		men		women
Hammer throw		men		women
Combined events
Heptathlon				women
Decathlon		men

The men's 100 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 4–5 August 2012.^[1] The competition comprised four rounds: a preliminary round for entrants without the minimum qualifying standard, a heats round, followed by three semi-finals of eight athletes each, which then reduced to eight athletes for the final.^[2]

Leading up to this Olympics, defending champion Usain Bolt was the star of the sport first based on the world records he had set in both the 100 metres and 200 metres in the previous Olympics in Beijing,^[3] while showboating to the finish.^[4] That celebrity continued when he ran more seriously in the 2009 world championships, improving both records into Beamonesque territory.^[5] But at the subsequent world championships, Bolt false started out of the 100 metres, opening the way for his training partner Yohan Blake to win the championship. Later in the season, Blake also posted a 200 metres time that was only .07 behind Bolt's world record.^[6] And then at the 2012 Jamaican Olympic Trials, Blake beat Bolt in both events.^[7]

Competition

The three American and three Jamaican favorites along with home team Dwain Chambers won each of the seven round one heats, most of them running as easy a round as possible. Ryan Bailey led the way with a personal best 9.88 ahead of a couple of national records.

In the first semi-final, Justin Gatlin ran the fastest semi-final in history 9.82, leading former world record holder Asafa Powell down the track. As Powell eased up, Churandy Martina edged him for the second automatic qualifier at 9.91, and Powell qualified with a 9.94 time. Suwaibou Sanneh improved his national record for Gambia at 10.18, set the day before. In the second semi-final, defending champion and world record holder Usain Bolt ran a relaxed race, looking around and slowing down, finishing in 9.87. Ryan Bailey got the second spot in 9.96. In the third semi-final, Yohan Blake ran 9.85, with Tyson Gay in second at 9.90. The final qualifier was defending silver medalist Richard Thompson with 10.02.^[8][9]

In the much-anticipated final, Bolt accelerated with 50 meters to go, passing all competitors to win the gold medal. Blake edged past Gatlin, who in turn held off a closing Gay at the finish line.^[10][11]

Usain Bolt won the gold medal for a second successive time, becoming only the second man in history, after Carl Lewis (1984, 1988), to repeat. His winning time of 9.63 seconds broke his own Olympic record set in 2008 and was second on the fastest times behind his own world record. His Jamaican teammate, Yohan Blake, finished second in 9.75 seconds. Blake's time was the fastest ever not to win a gold medal. Former world record holder and 2004 Olympic champion Justin Gatlin finished with the bronze medal with a time of 9.79 seconds. This race set a number of records, including: the first time in history that the top 3 finished under 9.80 seconds; the first time in history that the top 5 finished in under 9.90 seconds; the first time in history that the four fastest men in 100m history all featured; and 7 of the 8 men ran in under 10 seconds, again a first in the 100 meters, with only Asafa Powell (11.99) failing this, due to an injury he sustained 60 meters into the race. Apart from Powell, each runner's time was the fastest-ever for his respective placing. Despite not getting gold, Blake, Gatlin, Gay, and Bailey all ran times that would have won at least silver in any previous Olympic final. Blake, Gatlin and Gay each ran times that would have won gold in any Olympic final before 2008 (i.e. before Bolt's 9.69 race in Beijing).^[12][13]

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Usain Bolt (JAM)	9.58 s	Berlin, Germany	16 August 2009
Olympic record		9.69 s	Beijing, China	16 August 2008
2012 World leading	Yohan Blake (JAM)	9.75 s	Kingston, Jamaica	30 June 2012

The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:

Date	Event	Athlete	Time	Notes
5 August	Final	Usain Bolt (JAM)	9.63 s	OR

The Following new National records were set during this competition

Maldives national record	Azneem Ahmed (MDV)	10.79 s
Ivory Coast national record	Ben Youssef Meïté (CIV)	10.06 s
Gambia national record	Suwaibou Sanneh (GAM)	10.18 s
Netherlands national record	Churandy Martina (NED)	9.91 s

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).

Date	Time
Saturday, 4 August 2012	10:00 12:30	Preliminaries Round 1
Sunday, 5 August 2012	19:45 21:50	Semifinals Finals

Results

Official Video of Preliminary Round

Preliminaries

^[14] Qualification rule: The first two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the two fastest times of those who finished third or lower in their heat (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	3	Artur Bruno Rojas	Bolivia	0.162	10.62	Q
2	7	Devilert Arsene Kimbembe	Congo	0.143	10.68	Q, SB
3	4	Holder da Silva	Guinea-Bissau	0.168	10.69	q, SB
4	8	Joseph Andy Lui	Tonga	0.184	11.17
5	6	Mohan Khan	Bangladesh	0.149	11.25	PB
6	5	Kilakone Siphonexay	Laos	0.174	11.30
7	2	Christopher Lima da Costa	São Tomé and Príncipe	0.195	11.56	PB
				Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 2

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	5	Jurgen Themen	Suriname	0.158	10.55	Q
2	4	Fernando Lumain	Indonesia	0.155	10.80	Q, SB
3	2	Wilfried Bingangoye	Gabon	0.239	10.89
4	8	Liaquat Ali	Pakistan	0.169	10.90
5	6	Rodman Teltull	Palau	0.171	11.06	PB
6	7	Tavevele Noa	Tuvalu	0.180	11.55
7	3	Timi Garstang	Marshall Islands	0.162	12.81
				Wind: +0.9 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	6	Béranger Aymard Bosse	Central African Republic	0.162	10.55	Q
2	8	Yeo Foo Ee Gary	Singapore	0.159	10.57	Q, PB
3	4	Azneem Ahmed	Maldives	0.153	10.79	q, NR
4	3	J'maal Alexander	British Virgin Islands	0.163	10.92
5	5	John Howard	Federated States of Micronesia	0.203	11.05
6	2	Chris Walasi	Solomon Islands	0.164	11.42
7	7	Elama Fa’atonu	American Samoa	0.170	11.48	PB
				Wind: +1.7 m/s

Heat 4

Heat 4

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	3	Gérard Kobéané	Burkina Faso	0.194	10.42	Q, SB
2	8	Fabrice Coiffic	Mauritius	0.149	10.62	Q
3	6	Courtney Carl Williams	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0.164	10.80	PB
4	2	Rachid Chouhal	Malta	0.160	10.83	SB
5	5	Tilak Ram Tharu	Nepal	0.156	10.85	PB
6	9	Masoud Azizi	Afghanistan	0.167	11.19
7	7	Nooa Takooa	Kiribati	0.155	11.53	PB
8	4	Patrick Tuara	Cook Islands	0.165	11.72
				Wind: +0.5 m/s

Official Video of the Quarterfinal Round

Round 1

^[15] Qualification rule: The first three finishers in each heat (Q) plus the three fastest times of those who finished fourth or lower in their heat (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	6	Tyson Gay	United States	0.147	10.08	Q
2	5	Richard Thompson	Trinidad and Tobago	0.151	10.14	Q
3	7	Gerald Phiri	Zambia	0.147	10.16	Q, SB
4	3	Jaysuma Saidy Ndure	Norway	0.166	10.28
5	4	Ángel David Rodríguez	Spain	0.168	10.34
6	2	Jurgen Themen	Suriname	0.169	10.53
7	5	Isidro Montoya	Colombia	0.165	10.54
8	1	Yeo Foo Ee Gary	Singapore	0.144	10.69
				Wind: −1.4 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	4	Justin Gatlin	United States	0.200	9.97	Q
2	6	Derrick Atkins	Bahamas	0.179	10.22	Q
3	5	Rondel Sorrillo	Trinidad and Tobago	0.148	10.23	Q
4	8	Dariusz Kuć	Poland	0.163	10.24
5	9	Nilson André	Brazil	0.172	10.26	SB
6	7	Masashi Eriguchi	Japan	0.144	10.30
7	3	Barakat Al-Harthi	Oman	0.152	10.41
8	2	Fernando Lumain	Indonesia	0.162	10.90
				Wind: +0.7 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	7	Ryan Bailey	United States	0.177	9.88	Q, =PB
2	8	Ben Youssef Meïté	Ivory Coast	0.174	10.06	Q, NR
3	6	Justyn Warner	Canada	0.149	10.09	Q, PB
4	4	Kemar Hyman	Cayman Islands	0.150	10.16	q
5	9	Suwaibou Sanneh	The Gambia	0.176	10.21	q, NR
6	5	Rytis Sakalauskas	Lithuania	0.178	10.29
7	3	Béranger Aymard Bosse	Central African Republic	0.170	10.53
8	2	Artur Bruno Rojas	Bolivia	0.154	10.65
				Wind: +1.5 m/s

Heat 4

Qualification heat 4

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	7	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	0.178	10.09	Q
2	5	Daniel Bailey	Antigua and Barbuda	0.162	10.12	Q
3	6	James Dasaolu	Great Britain	0.174	10.13	Q
4	3	Amr Ibrahim Mostafa Seoud	Egypt	0.164	10.22
5	4	Jason Rogers	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.177	10.30
6	8	Ogho-Oghene Egwero	Nigeria	0.174	10.38
7	2	Holder da Silva	Guinea-Bissau	0.182	10.71
08	9	Idrissa Adam	Cameroon	0.206		DNF
				Wind: +0.4 m/s

Heat 5

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	7	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	0.166	10.04	Q
2	4	Adam Gemili	Great Britain	0.156	10.11	Q
3	6	Churandy Martina	Netherlands	0.168	10.20	Q
4	9	Reza Ghasemi	Iran	0.148	10.31
5	5	Obinna Metu	Nigeria	0.153	10.35
6	8	Ramon Gittens	Barbados	0.162	10.35
7	2	Paul Williams	Grenada	0.168	10.65
8	3	Devilert Arsene Kimbembe	Congo	0.157	10.94
				Wind: 0.0 m/s

Heat 6

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	5	Yohan Blake	Jamaica	0.175	10.00	Q
2	7	Ryota Yamagata	Japan	0.149	10.07	Q, PB
3	3	Su Bingtian	China	0.162	10.19	Q, SB
4	6	Antoine Adams	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.154	10.22	q
5	9	Peter Emelieze	Nigeria	0.153	10.22	SB
6	8	Jeremy Bascom	Guyana	0.135	10.31
7	4	Marek Niit	Estonia	0.158	10.40
8	2	Azneem Ahmed	Maldives	0.157	10.84
				Wind: +1.3 m/s

Heat 7

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	9	Dwain Chambers	Great Britain	0.157	10.02	Q, SB
2	6	Jimmy Vicaut	France	0.196	10.11	Q, SB
3	5	Keston Bledman	Trinidad and Tobago	0.195	10.13	Q
4	7	Warren Fraser	Bahamas	0.171	10.27
5	8	Miguel López	Puerto Rico	0.145	10.31
6	2	Gérard Kobéané	Burkina Faso	0.186	10.48
7	3	Fabrice Coiffic	Mauritius	0.165	10.59
08	4	Kim Collins	Saint Kitts and Nevis			DNS
				Wind: +2.0 m/s

Official Video of the Semifinal Round

Semifinals

^[16]

Qualification rule: The first two finishers in each heat (Q) plus the two fastest times of those who finished third or lower in their heat (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	7	Justin Gatlin	United States	0.187	9.82	Q
2	2	Churandy Martina	Netherlands	0.148	9.91	Q, NR
3	4	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	0.155	9.94	q
4	8	Keston Bledman	Trinidad and Tobago	0.175	10.04
5	6	Ben Youssef Meïté	Ivory Coast	0.163	10.13
6	5	Jimmy Vicaut	France	0.203	10.16
7	9	James Dasaolu	Great Britain	0.174	10.18
8	3	Suwaibou Sanneh	The Gambia	0.175	10.18	NR
				Wind: +0.7 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	4	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	0.180	9.87	Q
2	7	Ryan Bailey	United States	0.155	9.96	Q
3	8	Richard Thompson	Trinidad and Tobago	0.158	10.02	q
4	5	Dwain Chambers	Great Britain	0.154	10.05
5	9	Gerald Phiri	Zambia	0.165	10.11	SB
6	6	Daniel Bailey	Antigua and Barbuda	0.142	10.16
7	2	Antoine Adams	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.159	10.27
8	3	Su Bingtian	China	0.157	10.28
				Wind: +1.0 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
1	6	Yohan Blake	Jamaica	0.176	9.85	Q
2	4	Tyson Gay	United States	0.151	9.90	Q
3	7	Adam Gemili	Great Britain	0.158	10.06
4	8	Derrick Atkins	Bahamas	0.164	10.08	SB
5	9	Justyn Warner	Canada	0.135	10.09	=PB
6	5	Ryota Yamagata	Japan	0.158	10.10
7	3	Rondel Sorrillo	Trinidad and Tobago	0.140	10.31
08	2	Kemar Hyman	Cayman Islands			DNS
				Wind: +1.7 m/s

Final

Start of the final; lane 9 is closest.

Rank	Lane	Name	Nationality	Reaction	Result	Notes
	7	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	0.165	9.63	OR
	5	Yohan Blake	Jamaica	0.179	9.75	=PB
	6	Justin Gatlin	United States	0.178	9.79	PB
4	8	Ryan Bailey	United States	0.176	9.88	=PB
5	9	Churandy Martina	Netherlands	0.139	9.94
6	2	Richard Thompson	Trinidad and Tobago	0.160	9.98
7	3	Asafa Powell	Jamaica	0.155	11.99	*
DQ	4	Tyson Gay	United States	0.145	9.80
				Wind: +1.5 m/s

* Powell suffered a groin injury before crossing the finish line.

Incident

Just before the start of the final, a spectator threw a plastic beer bottle at the competitors in the starting blocks. Though the race was unaffected, he was arrested.^[17] The man, later identified as Ashley Gill-Webb, happened to be sitting next to Dutch judoka and bronze medalist Edith Bosch, who promptly struck him with her hand on the back of his head after the toss.^[18] LOCOG Chairman Sebastian Coe later stated: "I'm not suggesting vigilantism but it was actually poetic justice that they happened to be sitting next to a judo player".^[18] Gill-Webb later pleaded not guilty to a charge of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Stratford Magistrates' Court.^[19] He was later found guilty.^[20]

References

1. Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
2. "100m competition format". London 2012 Organising Committee. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
3. "Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake Aim To Win 100 Meters, Add To Jamaica's Olympic Gold Tally". Huffingtonpost.com. 5 August 1962. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
4. Hayward, Paul (31 May 2011). "Usain Bolt wins men's 100m Olympic final in 9.63 seconds to seal legacy". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
5. Clarey, Christopher (21 August 2009). "Usain Bolt - The New York Times". Topics.nytimes.com. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
6. Agencies (16 September 2011). "Yohan Blake upstages Usain Bolt with second-fastest 200m ever | Sport". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
7. "2012 Olympics Games - Yohan Blake beats Usain Bolt in 100 meters at Jamaican trials - ESPN". Espn.go.com. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
8. "Highlights: Bolt Advances To 100m Final - Track & Field Video". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
9. "International Association of Athletics Federations". iaaf.org. 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
10. "International Association of Athletics Federations". iaaf.org. 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
11. "Highlights: Usain Bolt Wins 2nd Consecutive 100m Gold - Track & Field Video". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
12. "0 Toplists 100 m - o". iaaf.org. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
13. "Usain Bolt wins Olympics 100m final at London 2012". BBC Sport. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
14. "Men's 100m - Preliminaries". London 2012 Organising Committee. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
15. "Men's 100m - Round 1". London 2012 Organising Committee. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
16. "Men's 100m - Semifinals". London 2012 Organising Committee. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
17. "Man who threw bottle during men's 100 meters arrested for 'creating a public nuisance'". Yahoo! Sports. 5 August 2012.
18. "Dutch judo star 'hit bottle-thrower' in Olympic 100m final". BBC News. 6 August 2012.
19. "Olympic 100m bottle throw: Man denies public order charge". BBC News. 6 August 2012.
20. "Olympic 100m final bottle thrower Ashley Gill-Webb guilty". BBC News. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2013.