How it works
Runners race for 100m down the home straight of a 400m track. They start from blocks and run in lanes.
A reaction time – measured by sensors in the starting pistol and on the blocks – of less than 0.1 is deemed a false start and runners will be recalled. After one false start anyone responsible for a subsequent false start is disqualified immediately.
A runner can also be disqualified if he or she steps out of their designated lane.
History
The 'stade' (192m race) was part of the Ancient Olympics.
In more modern times the 100 yards (91.44m) was adopted as the foremost sprint – it was part of the Commonwealth Games until 1966 – but the classic 100m distance, the Blue Riband event, has been part of the Olympics since 1896.
Did you know
With three gold medals – Harold Abrahams (1924), Allan Wells (1980) and Linford Christie (1992) – Great Britain is the second-most successful nation in the 100m at the Olympic Games.
Gold standard
American men have won 17 Olympic titles. American women have won five of the last six Olympic golds. The Caribbean nations, led by Jamaica, are the emerging threat, although their men have yet to plunder Olympic gold.
Icons
Jesse Owens
The phenomenal black American athlete humiliated Adolf Hitler, who intended to use the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a showcase for 'Aryan superiority', by winning gold in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m.
Gail Devers
This US sprinter bounced back from Graves’ Disease, a thyroid disorder, to win back-to-back Olympic titles at Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996). She also landed three 100m hurdles world titles in a long and prolific career.