Venue Olympic Stadium Competitors 75 from 61 nations | Date 4–5 August 2012 Winning time 9.63 s | |
 | ||
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. 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.
Contents
Leading up to this Olympics, defending champion Usain Bolt was the star of the sport having set world records in winning the 100 metres and 200 metres in the previous Olympics, and 2 more world records in winning the 100m and 200m at the 2009 world championships. In the 2011 world championships, the 100 metres was won by Yohan Blake after a false start by Bolt. Later in the season, Blake ran a new 200 metres personal best only .07 behind Bolt's world record. At the 2012 Jamaican Olympic Trials, Blake beat Bolt in both events.
In the final, Bolt, started slow out of the blocks and was behind Blake and Gatlin, but accelerated with 50 meters to go, to win the gold medal and was around 5 meters ahead of the competition at the finish line. Bolt set a new Olympic record (beating his own record set at the 2008 Olympic Games) of 9.64 seconds. Blake edged past Gatlin, who in turn held off a closing Gay at the finish line.
Usain Bolt was the second athlete after Carl Lewis (1984, 1988) to retain the men's 100m championship. His winning time was the second fastest time ever behind his own world record. 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 won the bronze medal in 9.79 seconds. The race set a number of records, including: the first time that the top 3 finished under 9.80 seconds; the first time that the top 5 finished in under 9.90 seconds; the first time that the four fastest men in 100m history all competed; and 7 of the 8 men ran in under 10 seconds, with only Asafa Powell finished in (11.99) after an injury 60 meters into the race. Apart from Powell, each runner's time was the fastest-ever for his respective placing. Blake, Gatlin, Gay, and Bailey all ran times that would have won at least silver in any previous Olympic final.
Competition
The seven round one heats were won by three Jamaican and three American favorites and Dwain Chambers of Britiain. Ryan Bailey was the fastest qualifier with a personal best 9.88.
In the first semi-final, Justin Gatlin ran the fastest semi-final in history 9.82, ahead of Churandy Martina 9.91and former world record holder Asafa Powell in 9.94. Suwaibou Sanneh improved his national record for Gambia at 10.18, set the day before. In the second semi-final, defending champion Usain Bolt ran a relaxed race, finishing in 9.87. Ryan Bailey was second 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.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition:
The Following new National records were set during this competition
Schedule
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1).
Preliminaries
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.
Round 1
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.
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.
Final
* 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. 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. 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". 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. He was later found guilty.