Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres
The men's 100 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 13–14 August at the Olympic Stadium. Eighty-four athletes from 57 nations competed.
Summary
of Jamaica entered as the world record holder, 2012 Olympic champion and the 2015 World Champion. Looking to become the first man to win three Olympic 100 m titles, he was unbeaten and ranked fourth for the season with 9.88 seconds, though injury affected his early season. The 2015 World runner-up and American champion Justin Gatlin was also unbeaten that year and held the fastest time at 9.80, though he too had had an injury in the buildup. Trayvon Bromell was the second fastest man of the season, while France's Jimmy Vicaut had twice run under 9.9 seconds, but had been beaten at the 2016 European Championships. The 2012 Olympic silver medallist and second fastest man ever Yohan Blake entered for Jamaica, but had not shown strong form since that year.Hassan Saaid of the Maldives and Rodman Teltull of Palau were the fastest to progress from the preliminary round, both managing under 10.6 seconds. Siueni Filimone qualified but pulled a hamstring at the finish and was unable to compete in the next round. Gatlin was the fastest in the heats at 10.01, followed by Ivorian Ben Youssef Meité, Andre De Grasse of Canada, then Bolt. China's Xie Zhenye was the fifth heat winner under 10.1 seconds, setting a personal best. Vicaut finished fourth in his heat and narrowly progressed as a time qualifier. The most prominent casualties were European champion Churandy Martina, sub-10 Canadian Aaron Brown and sixth-ranked Qatari Femi Ogunode. Keston Bledman, a sub-10 performer was edged out for the final qualifying position by Cejhae Greene, both athletes recording the same time 10.20 rounded to the hundredth.
It almost took a sub-10 performance just to qualify for the final. Blake and Bromell were the slowest qualifiers, each running 10.01.
At the start of the final, the inner lanes got the best start, Trayvon Bromell and Justin Gatlin slightly ahead of Akani Simbine. In lane 6, Bolt came up almost even with Jimmy Vicaut. Trailing the field was Yohan Blake behind Ben Youssef Meïté to his inside. By the middle of the race, Gatlin was starting to create a gap while Bolt was starting to come back at him and moving away from DeGrasse and Vicaut in the second group. With 60 meters gone, Bolt had closed the gap to a few meters from Gatlin and by 70 meters was ahead of the field. This lead grew by several meters in the final 20 meters and Bolt crossed the line in a winning time of 9.81 seconds, to complete a Hat-Trick of 100m titles. Bolt's training partner, Blake had started slowly but was in full gear by the half way stage and had made a serious challenge at the field, however Blake's late rush wasn't quite enough, as DeGrasse took 3rd place, for the bronze. Gatlin finished second, behind Bolt.
Usain Bolt's win broke 2 records; becoming the first person to win the 100 meter race 3 times and also to medal 3 times in the 100 meter race. Previously, only Carl Lewis had won two gold medals in the 100m, a feat which Bolt had matched at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. However, finishing several hundredths of a second later, Gatlin, also having a place on the podium, joined him in winning three 100m medals; one gold, one silver, and one bronze, which itself made Gatlin the first man in history to win each medal in the 100 meters.
Gatlin also became the holder of the record for the longest time between their first medal and last medal in the 100m, in terms of years. His first being his gold won at the 2004 Summer Olympics and his silver medal, 12 years later in this race.
The following evening the medals were presented by Valeriy Borzov, IOC member, Ukraine and Sebastian Coe, President of the IAAF.
Background
This was the twenty-eighth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. The shine of the 2012 field had dimmed somewhat; all three London medalists, but were diminished by age, injury, and doping issues. Two-time finalists Churandy Martina of the Netherlands and Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago also returned, but at this point were not among the top challengers. Andre De Grasse of Canada and Trayvon Bromell of the United States, who had tied for bronze at the 2015 world championships behind Bolt and Gatlin, were the biggest threats to the top three.Macedonia and Palestine competed for the first time in the event. The United States made its 27th appearance in the event, most of any country, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 100 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard during the qualifying period. The qualifying standard was 10.16 seconds. The qualifying period was from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets were eligible for the sprints and short hurdles, including the 100 metres. NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC could enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 100 metres.Competition format
The event continued to use the preliminaries plus three main rounds format introduced in 2012. Athletes not meeting the qualification standard competed in the preliminaries; those who met the standard started in the first round.The preliminary round consisted of 3 heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes. The top two runners in each heat advanced, along with the next two fastest runners overall. They joined the faster entrants in the first round of heats, which consisted of 8 heats of 8 or 9 athletes each. The top two runners in each heat, along with the next eight fastest runners overall, moved on to the semifinals. The 24 semifinalists competed in three heats of 8, with the top two in each semifinal and the next two overall advancing to the eight-man final.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.| Area | - | - | - | - |
| Area | Time | Wind | Athlete | Nation |
| Africa | 9.85 | +1.7 | Olusoji Fasuba | Nigeria |
| Asia | 9.91 | +1.8 | Femi Ogunode | Qatar |
| Asia | 9.91 | +0.6 | Femi Ogunode | Qatar |
| Europe | 9.86 | +0.6 | Francis Obikwelu | Portugal |
| Europe | 9.86 | +1.3 | Jimmy Vicaut | France |
| Europe | 9.86 | +1.8 | Jimmy Vicaut | France |
| North, Central America and Caribbean | 9.58 | +0.9 | Usain Bolt | Jamaica |
| Oceania | 9.93 | +1.8 | Patrick Johnson | Australia |
| South America | 10.00 | +1.6 | Robson da Silva | Brazil |
The following national records were established during the competition:
| Country | Athlete | Round | Time | Notes |
| Ivory Coast | Semifinals | 9.97 s | ||
| Ivory Coast | Final | 9.96 s |
Schedule
All times are Brasilia Time| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 13 August 2016 | 09:30 12:00 | Preliminaries Round 1 |
| Sunday, 14 August 2016 | 21:00 22:25 | Semifinals Final |
Results
Preliminaries
The preliminary round featured athletes invited to compete who had not achieved the required qualifying standard. Athletes who had achieved the standard received a bye into the first round proper.Qualification rules: First 2 in each heat and the next 2 fastest advance to Round 1.