Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres


The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place at Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City, Mexico, on October 13 and 14. Sixty-five athletes from 42 nations took part. Each nation was limited to 3 runners by rules in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American Jim Hines, the second consecutive time the event was won by an American. Jamaica won its first medal in the event since 1952.

Background

This was the sixteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. The gold medalist from 1964, American Bob Hayes, did not return, but Tokyo silver medalist Cuban Enrique Figuerola and bronze medalist Canadian Harry Jerome did. The American team was lead by Jim Hines and Charles Greene, two of the three men to establish the world record at 9.9 seconds during the Night of Speed; Mel Pender, a 1964 finalist, was the third member of the team. Jamaican Lennox Miller was the strongest challenger to the Americans.
El Salvador, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Tanzania were represented in the event for the first time. East and West Germany also competed separately for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first sixteen Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the same basic four round format from 1920–1964: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. A significant change, however, was the introduction of the "fastest loser" system. Previously, advancement depended solely on the runners' place in their heat. The 1968 competition added advancement places to the fastest runners across the heats in the first round who did not advance based on place.
The first round consisted of nine heats, most with 7–8 athletes but the first having only 5. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next five fastest runners overall. This made 32 quarterfinalists, who were divided into four heats of 8 runners. The top four runners in each quarterfinal advanced. The 16 semifinalists competed in two heats of 8, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record9.9 Jim HinesSacramento, United States20 June 1968
World record9.9 Ronnie Ray SmithSacramento, United States20 June 1968
World record9.9 Charles GreeneSacramento, United States20 June 1968
Olympic record10.0 Bob HayesTokyo, Japan15 October 1964

Jim Hines had a time of 9.9 seconds or 9.95 seconds in the final. This equalled the world record and set a new Olympic record, which were measured by hand-timing at that point. The 9.95 second time was recognized as the initial world record for electronic timed results when the IAAF changed its records rules in 1977.

Results

Heats

The top three runners in each of the nine heats, and the next fastest five, advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Heat one

The 2.8 m/s tailwind made this heat ineligible for records.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Charles Greene10.09
2Hideo Iijima10.24
3Canagasabai Kunalan10.47
4Wiesław Maniak10.49
5Barka Sy10.61

Heat two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jim Hines10.26
2Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa10.30
3Gaoussou Koné10.37
4Amos Omolo10.50
5Porfirio Veras10.51
6Julius Sang10.64
7Jorge Vizcarrondo10.71
8Manuel Planchart10.80

Heat three

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Enrique Figuerola10.40
2Iván Moreno10.53
3Barrie Kelly10.55
4Yevgeny Sinyayev10.56
5Zenon Nowosz10.57
6Charles Asati10.63
7Jimmy Sierra10.88

Heat four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Pablo Montes10.14
2Mel Pender10.35
3Ron Jones10.45
4Oleksiy Khlopotnov10.49
5Norris Stubbs10.67
6Chen Chuan-show10.91
7Philippe Housiaux10.94

Heat five

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Roger Bambuck10.18
2Heinz Erbstößer10.42
3Michael Ahey10.59
4Bernard Nottage10.64
5Ennio Preatoni10.65
6Hansruedi Wiedmer10.75
7Su Wen-ho10.81

Heat six

The tailwind of 3.8 m/s made this heat ineligible for records.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lennox Miller10.15
2Hartmut Schelter10.34
3Manikavasagam Jegathesan10.35
4Robert Ojo10.47
5Ron Monsegue10.56
6Rogelio Onofre10.58
-Tom Robinson

Heat seven

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Harry Jerome10.35
2Karl-Peter Schmidtke10.38
3Harald Eggers10.38
4Kola Abdulai10.45
5Miguel Angel González10.59
6Pablo McNeil10.62
7Hassan El-Mech10.79
8Morgan Gesmalla11.09

Heat eight

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Gérard Fenouil10.42
2Gerhard Wucherer10.42
3Marian Dudziak10.46
4Vladislav Sapeya10.46
5Eddy Monsels10.48
6Greg Lewis10.55
7Félix Bécquer10.72
8Rafael Santos11.22

Heat nine

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Hermes Ramírez10.30
2Andrés Calonge10.44
3Jocelyn Delecour10.45
4Gert Metz10.55
5Norman Chihota10.57
6Horacio Esteves10.65
7José Luis Sánchez Paraíso10.69
8Juan Argüello11.18

Quarterfinals

The top four runners in each of the four heats advanced to the semifinal round.

Quarterfinal one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Lennox Miller10.11
2Jim Hines10.14
3Enrique Figuerola10.23
4Iván Moreno10.37
5Andrés Calonge10.39
6Ron Jones10.42
7Karl-Peter Schmidtke10.48
8Vladislav Sapeya10.51

Quarterfinal two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Hermes Ramírez10.10
2Mel Pender10.16
3Roger Bambuck10.17
4Harry Jerome10.22
5Heinz Erbstößer10.28
6Gerhard Wucherer10.33
7Kola Abdulai10.38
8Michael Ahey10.49

Quarterfinal three

The 4.2 m/s tailwind made this heat ineligible for records.
RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Pablo Montes10.16
2Hartmut Schelter10.29
3Hideo Iijima10.31
4Gérard Fenouil10.31
5Marian Dudziak10.32
6Manikavasagam Jegathesan10.38
7Amos Omolo10.45
8Robert Ojo10.45

Quarterfinal four

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Charlie Greene10.02
2Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa10.18,
3Gaoussou Koné10.22
4Harald Eggers10.25
5Barrie Kelly10.35
6Jocelyn Delecour10.36
7Canagasabai Kunalan10.38
8Eddy Monsels10.45

Semifinals

The top four runners in each of the two heats advanced to the final round.

Heat one

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Jim Hines10.08
2Roger Bambuck10.11
3Harry Jerome10.17
4Mel Pender10.21
5Enrique Figuerola10.23
6Hermes Ramírez10.25
7Harald Eggers10.29
8Hideo Iijima10.34

Heat two

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
1Charlie Greene10.13
2Lennox Miller10.15
3Pablo Montes10.19
4Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa10.26
5Gaoussou Koné10.27
6Iván Moreno10.37
7Gérard Fenouil10.40
8Hartmut Schelter10.40

Final

and Charlie Greene were known for their fast starts. In the final, while Greene reacted to the gun noticeably slower, Pender did not disappoint, taking a quick lead. Greene, Lennox Miller and Jim Hines were the next chase group, the three outer lanes already left behind. The diminutive Pender's lead disappeared, the much larger Miller leading the group in passing by the halfway point. Hines was just getting into gear, exploding past Miller and putting a gap on the field to take the race by two metres. Miller leaned but he already had a metre on Green who was a metre ahead of Pablo Montes, Roger Bambuck and Pender to take the bronze.
RankLaneAthleteNationTime Time Notes
3Jim Hines9.99.95,
4Lennox Miller10.010.04
1Charlie Greene10.010.07
42Pablo Montes10.110.14
56Roger Bambuck10.110.14
65Mel Pender10.110.17
77Harry Jerome10.210.20
88Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa10.210.28Photo-finish shows 10.275