The men's

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

sprint event at the 1984 Olympic Games took place between August 3 and August 4. Eighty-two athletes from 59 countries participated. Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...

of the United States, that nation's first title after two Games of missing the podium (4th in 1976, boycotted in 1980). Canada's

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football *Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian footb ...

took bronze to break up the Americans' bid to sweep the podium (which they had done in 1904 and 1912); it was Canada's first medal in the event since 1964.

Background

This was the twentieth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Defending gold medal winner

Allan Wells Allan Wipper Wells (born 3 May 1952) is a Scottish former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Within a fortnight of that, he also took on and beat America's best sprinter ...

of Great Britain was the only finalist from the Moscow Games to return. The American team was strong, led by

1983 World Championships in Athletics The 1st 1983 World Championships in Athletics were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983. Summary The overall med ...

winner

, who was attempting to match

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifet ...

's 1936 quadruple (100, 200, 4x100, and long jump).

Sam Graddy Samuel Louis Graddy III (born February 10, 1964) is an American former athlete and American football player, winner of gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Early years Born in Gaffney, South Carolina, Sam Graddy was secon ...

and

Ron Brown Ronald Harmon Brown (August 1, 1941 – April 3, 1996) was an American politician. He served as the United States Secretary of Commerce during the first term of President of the United States, President Bill Clinton. Prior to this he was chairm ...

were the other members of the United States squad, edging out world record holder and World Championships runner-up

Calvin Smith Calvin Smith (born January 8, 1961) is a former sprint track and field athlete from the United States. He is a former world record holder in the 100-meter sprint with 9.93 seconds in 1983 and was twice world champion over 200 metres, in 1983 and ...

. Challengers to the hosts included World Championship finalists Wells,

Paul Narracott Paul Narracott (born 8 October 1959) was the first Australian sportsperson (and only male) to have represented Australia at both a Summer ( Los Angeles, 1984) and Winter Olympics ( Albertville, 1992). Starting his career as a track sprinter, Pa ...

of Australia, Christian Haas of West Germany, and

Desai Williams Empson Othman Desai Williams (June 12, 1959 – April 10, 2022) was a Canadian sprinter, who won an Olympic bronze medal in 4 x 100 metres relay in Los Angeles 1984. He was born in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis. Competing at the first ...

of Canada, as well as up-and-coming Canadian sprinter

. Thirteen nations appeared in the event for the first time: Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, the British Virgin Islands, China (in its People's Republic form), Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Mauritius, Oman, Qatar, the Solomon Islands, Swaziland, and the United Arab Emirates. The United States made its 19th appearance in the event, most of any country, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format

The event retained the same basic four round format introduced in 1920: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. The "fastest loser" system, introduced in 1968, was used again to ensure that the quarterfinals and subsequent rounds had exactly 8 runners per heat; this time, the system was used in both the preliminaries and quarterfinals. The first round consisted of 11 heats, each with 7 or 8 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next seven fastest runners overall. This made 40 quarterfinalists, who were divided into 5 heats of 8 runners. The top three runners in each quarterfinal advanced, with one "fastest loser" place. The 16 semifinalists competed in two heats of 8, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 270–71.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Results

Heats

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

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Heat 7

Heat 8

Heat 9

Heat 10

Heat 11

Quarterfinals

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

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Quarterfinal 5

Semifinals

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

Semifinal 1

The wind was +0.7 m/s.

Semifinal 2

The wind was -1.5 m/s.

Final

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

= 0.2 m/s

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics - Men's 100 metres Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics 100 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1984 Summer Olympics