100m by Andy Foster

CONTENTS

Introduction The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 (1928 for women). The reigning 100 m Olympic champion is often named “the fastest man/woman in the world”. On an outdoor 400 metres running track, the 100 m is run on the home straight, with the start usually being set on an extension to make it a straight-line race. Runners begin in the starting blocks and the race begins when an official fires the starter’s pistol. Sprinters typically reach top speed after somewhere between 50– 60 m. Their speed then slows towards the finish line.

The 10-second barrier has historically been a barometer of fast men’s performances, while the best female sprinters take eleven seconds or less to complete the race. The current men’s world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, while American Florence Griffith-Joyner holds the women’s world record of 10.49 seconds. The 100 m (109.361 yards) emerged from the metrication of the 100 yards (91.4 m), a now defunct distance originally contested in Englishspeaking countries. The event is largely held outdoors as few indoor facilities have a 100 m straight.

FASTEST TIME :

9.58

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter and is the fastest person ever. Bolt ran his record braking time at the Berlin Olympics in 2009.... Along with his teammates, he also set the world record in the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, the first man to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting, and a five-time World champion. He was the first to achieve a “double double” by winning 100 m and 200 m titles at consecutive Olympics (2008 and 2012), and topped this through the first “double triple” (including 4x100m relays). His 2009 record breaking margin for 100 m, from 9.69 seconds (his own previous world record) to 9.58, is the highest since the start of fully automatic time measurements.

His achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname “Lightning Bolt”, and awards including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Track & Field Athlete of the Year, and Laureus Sportsman of the Year (twice). He is the highest paid athlete ever in track and field. He has been called the world’s most marketable athlete and the greatest athlete ever.

FASTEST TIME :

9.69

Tyson Gay (born August 9, 1982) is an American track and field sprint athlete who competes in the 100 metres and 200 metres. His 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds is the American record and makes him the second fastest athlete ever. His 200 m time of 19.58 makes him the 5th fastest athlete in that event. In 2008, he ran a 100m in 9.68, then the fastest time in history, but was prevented from a world record because it was wind-assisted. Gay has won numerous medals in major international competitions, including a gold medal sweep of the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 meters relay at the 2007 Osaka World Championships. This made him the second man to win all three events at the same World Championships, after Maurice Greene. He is a three-time U.S. champion in the 100 m. At the 2008 Olympic Trials, Gay suffered a severe hamstring injury in the 200 m event. The injury persisted and this contributed to his failure to win a single medal at the

Beijing Olympics. As a participant in the US Anti-Doping Agency’s “Project Believe” program, Gay is regularly tested to ensure that his system is clean of performanceenhancing drugs. His performance of 9.71 seconds to win the 100 m silver medal in the 2009 World Championships is the fastest non-winning time for the event. Gay ran a wind assisted 9.68 at the 2008 US Olympic trials. He’s a two-time winner of the Jesse Owens Award, and one-time winner of the IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2007.

FASTEST TIME :

9.69

Yohan Blake (born 26 December 1989 in St. James, Jamaica), is a Jamaican sprinter of the 100-metre and 200-metre dash races. He won a gold medal at the 100 m at the 2011 world championships and a silver medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 100-m and 200-m races for the Jamaican team. He is known by the nickname, “The Beast.” Blake’s 100 m personal best of 9.69 seconds makes him the equal second fastest man ever with Tyson Gay, and after Usain Bolt. His personal best for the 200 m (19.26 seconds) is the second fastest ever after Bolt. He holds the national junior record for the 100 metres, and is the youngest sprinter to have broken the 10-second barrier (at 19 years, 196 days). In 2009, along with three other sprinters he was sus-

pended for three months after testing positive for a substance similar to a banned stimulant. He is coached by Glen Mills. His training partners are Usain Bolt and Daniel Bailey.

FASTEST TIME :

9.72

Asafa Powell CD (born 23 November 1982) is a Jamaican sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres. He held the 100 m world record between June 2005 and May 2008, with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds respectively. Powell has consistently broken the 10-second barrier in competition, with his personal best of 9.72 s being the fifth fastest time in the history of the event. As of 16 July 2012, Powell has broken the ten-second barrier legally more times than anyone else â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 80 times. Powell competed in the 100 m at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics, finishing fifth in 2004 and 2008 and eighth after injuring his groin during the race in 2012. In 2008 he won a gold medal and set the world and Olympic records as part of the Ja-

maican 4 Ă&#x2014; 100 metres relay team. At the 2007 Osaka World Championships he won a bronze and a silver medal in the 100 m and 4 x 100 m relay respectively and he has been successful at the Commonwealth Games, winning two gold and one silver medal. At the 2009 World Championships he won 100 m bronze and a relay gold. Powell has won five times at the IAAF World Athletics Final and is the 100 m record holder for the event.

FASTEST TIME :

9.78

Nesta Carter OD (born October 11, 1985) is a Jamaican sprinter, who specialises in the 100 metres event. In August 2010 he became only the fifth sprinter to ever run the 100 metres in less than 9.8 seconds. Carter has also been successful as part of the Jamaican 4 x 100 metres relay team, setting the world record and Olympic record at the 2012 London Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics, and a member of the 2007 World Championship silver medal 4 x 100 metres relay team. His current 100m personal best of 9.78 ranks him as the fifth fastest man of all time, behind fellow Jamaicans Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake & Asafa Powell, and American Tyson Gay.

As part of the Jamaican 4 Ă&#x2014; 100 metres relay team, setting the world record and Olympic record on August 11, 2012, at the 2012 London Olympics.

FASTEST TIME :

9.79

Maurice Greene (born July 23, 1974) is a retired American track and field sprinter who specialized in the 100 meters and 200 meters. He is a former 100 m world record holder with a time of 9.79 seconds. During the height of his career (1997â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2004) he won four Olympic medals and was a five-time World Champion. This included three golds at the 1999 World Championships, a feat which had previously only been done by Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson and has since been equaled by three others. His career was affected by a number of injuries from 2001 onwards, although he won the 100 meters bronze and silver in the sprint relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Greene was also successful indoors: he was the 1999 Indoor World Champion and

remains the world record holder in the 60 meter dash and the joint-fastest man over 50 meters. He raced sparingly after an injury in 2005 and officially retired in 2008. Over his career, he made the second most sub-10 second runs (51) in the 100m (since surpassed by Asafa Powell). Following his track career he has become an ambassador for the IAAF and a TV personality, appearing on Identity, Blind Date, and Dancing with the Stars. Most recently he was hired as a track coach at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

FASTEST TIME :

9.79

As part of the Jamaican 4 Ă&#x2014; 100 metres relay team, setting the world record and Olympic record on August 11, 2012, at the 2012 London Olympics.

FASTEST TIME :

9.80

Mullings began his international athletics career with a bronze medal win in the 100 m at the Pan American Junior Championships. At the 2004 national championship he made his first impact in senior athletics, setting new bests of 10.04 and 20.22 in the sprints, and finishing as the 200 m national champion. This earned him qualification into the 2004 Summer Olympics, but he was withdrawn from the competition after his sample from the national championships tested positive for banned substances. After his B sample also tested positive for testosterone, he was banned from competition for two years and his results between mid-2004 and 2005 were removed from the record. He returned to competition in 2006 but finished the season with unimpressive bests of 10.31 and 20.54. The following year was much more successful. He won the 100 m in Zaragoza with a wind-aided (3.7 m/s) run of 9.91 seconds,[4] and featured on the 2007 IAAF Golden League circuit. He competed at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics as a heats runner for the Jamaican silver medal-winning 4Ă&#x2014;100 metres relay team.

After an uneventful 2008, Mullings returned to form in 2009. He placed second in the national championships behind Olympic champion Usain Bolt. He set new personal bests in both sprints in July, running 20.01 seconds over 200 m in Rethymno, and 10.01 seconds over 100 m at the Golden Gala. Selected to run both events for Jamaica at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, he was picked out as a possible medalist by commentators. In 2011, he broke the 10 second barrier for the first time at age 28, and by the end of the year had run under 10 seconds seven times. However, on 11 August 2011, it was reported that Mullings had tested positive for the drug Furosemide, a masking agent. The positive test was recorded at the Jamaican national trials in June where he finished third in the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100-metre final. On 22nd November the Jamaican Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel handed him a lifetime ban from athletics. They voted unanimously on the decision

FASTEST TIME :

9.84

in 1996. He was timed at 5.56A seconds. Maurice Greene matched that performance in 1999, but his run was never ratified as a world record. Bailey repeated the â&#x20AC;&#x153;doubleâ&#x20AC;? at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, setting a world record of 9.84s +0.7 m/s wind in the 100 m (the previous record was set in July 1994 by American Leroy Burrell at 9.85 seconds). Many Canadians felt his victory restored the image of Canadian athletes, which had been tarnished by Ben Johnsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s previous disqualified At the 1995 world Track & Field win at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Bailey won both the 100 m sprint Seoul. Bailey was the second person to hold all the major titles in the 100 and the 4 x 100 m relay titles. m concurrently (World Champion, Olympic Champion & World Record As a precursor to the centennial Olympics being held in Atlanta, Bailey Holder); Carl Lewis was the first to achieve this feat. broke the indoor 50 m world record during a competition in Reno, Nevada Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Canadian sprinter, who once held the world record for the 100 metres race following his gold medal performance in the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m. Particularly noted for his top speed, Bailey ran 27.07 mph (12.10 m/s) in his 1996 Olympic title run, the fastest ever recorded at the time.

FASTEST TIME :

9.84

Bruny Surin (born July 12, 1967) is a Canadian athlete, winner of a gold medal in the 4x100 m relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 2008 he was inducted into Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4x100 relay team.