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

Men's 100 metres
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Men's 100 metres; at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium
Date	4–5 August
Winning time	9.63
Medalists
	← 2008 2016 →

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.^[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 the Olympics, while showboating to the finish. That celebrity continued when he ran more seriously in the 2009 world championships, improving both records into Beamonesque territory. But at the subsequent world championships, Bolt looked human, false starting 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. And then at the 2012 Jamaican Olympic Trials, Blake beat Bolt in both events.

In the first semi-final, Justin Gatlin blasted the fastest semi-final in history 9.82, leading former world record holder Asafa Powell down the track. As Powell eased up, Churandy Martina snuck in for the second automatic qualifier at 9.91, leaving Powell to depend on his 9.94 to get him through. Suwaibou Sanneh improved his national record for Gambia at 10.18, set the day before. In the second semi, defending champion, world record holder Usain Bolt ran the easiest 9.87, Ryan Bailey got the second spot in 9.96. In the third semi Yohan Blake 9.85 bested Tyson Gay 9.90, but no other performer bothered Powell's 9.94. The final qualifier was Richard Thompson with 10.02.

In the much anticipated final, Gatlin was fastest out of the blocks, but with 50 meters to go, Bolt passed all his other competitors, to win the 100m for the gold medal. Blake edged past Gatlin, who in turn beat Gay on the line on a lunge

Usain Bolt won the gold medal for a second successive time, only the second man in history to do this after Carl Lewis with a time of 9.63 seconds, breaking his own Olympic record set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Second on the fastest times behind his own world record. His Jamaican team mate Yohan Blake finished second in 9.75 seconds and former world record holder and Olympic champion Justin Gatlin finished with the bronze medal with a time of 9.79 seconds. This race set a number of records, including this was the first time in history the top 3 finished under 9.80 seconds, the first time in history the top 5 finished under 9.90 seconds, the first time in history that the four fastest men in 100m history all featured, furthermore, 7 of the 8 men ran 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. Again, apart from Powell, every non-winning place was the fastest for that place in history.^[3]

Records

Prior to the competition^[update], the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Usain Bolt (JAM)	9.58 s	Berlin, Germany	16 August 2009
Olympic record	Usain Bolt (JAM)	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)	9.629 s	OR

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

Preliminaries

^[4]

Heat 1

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

Heat 2

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

Heat 3

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

Heat 4

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