The women's 100 metres competition at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The event was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 14–15. The race was won by defending champion

Wyomia Tyus Wyomia Tyus (pronunciation: ''why-o-mi''; born August 29, 1945) is a retired American track and field sprinter, and the first person to retain the Olympic title in the 100 m (a feat since duplicated by Carl Lewis, Gail Devers, Shelly-Ann Fraser ...

. She became the first person to defend the championship at 100 metres, a feat later duplicated 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, ...

Gail Devers Yolanda Gail Devers ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 60 m hurdles, 100 m and 100 m hurdles. One of the greatest and most decorated female sprinters of all time, she was t ...

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Order of Distinction, OD, Order of Jamaica , OJ (née Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican track and field Sprint (running), sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 60 metres, 100 metres, 100 m and 200 m ...

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight- ...

and

Elaine Thompson-Herah Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah OD ( née Thompson; born June 28, 1992) is a Jamaican sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic cham ...

. Director Bud Greenspan filmed Tyus casually dancing behind her starting blocks before the Olympic final. When interviewed later she said she was doing the " Tighten Up" to stay loose. American commentator

Dwight Stones Dwight Edwin Stones (born December 6, 1953) is an American television commentator and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist and former three-time world record holder in the men's high jump. During his 16-year career, he won 19 national championshi ...

suggests this intimidated her opponents. In the final, American teenager

Margaret Bailes Margaret Johnson Bailes (born January 23, 1951) is an American athlete who competed in the 100 and 200 meters. Early life Margaret Johnson Bailes was born in the Bronx. When she was five, she moved to Eugene, Oregon with her family after her fa ...

gained a step advantage at the gun. That quickly disappeared as Tyus seized control of the race. The chase was on. The next chasers appeared to be her American teammate Barbara Ferrell and Australian teenager

Raelene Boyle Raelene Ann Boyle (born 24 June 1951) is an Australian retired athlete, who represented Australia at three Olympic Games as a sprinter, winning three silver medals, and was named one of 100 National Living Treasures by the National Trust of ...

. Coming on strong toward the finish was Polish veteran

Irena Kirszenstein The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organization mandated to facilitate cooperation, advance knowledge, and promote the adoption and sustainable use of renewable energy. It is the first international organis ...

. Tyus dipped at the finish, but there was nobody near her. Ferrell and Boyle were escorted to the holding area, but Officials reading the new

fully automatic time Fully automatic time (abbreviated FAT) is a form of race timing in which the clock is automatically activated by the starting device, and the finish time is either automatically recorded, or timed by analysis of a photo finish. The system is c ...

system corrected the results to declare Kirszenstein the bronze medalist. Tyus set the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

while Boyle set the List of world junior record in fourth place. Tyus was credited with 11.0 hand timed, breaking the tie at 11.1 with several women in this race. Two years later, Chi Cheng, 7th place in this race, equalled her time. Her automatic time of 11.07 was the first noted automatic time record of this event. In the subsequent Olympics, that time was equalled by

Renate Stecher Renate Stecher (, ; née Meißner, born 12 May 1950) is a German (former East German) sprint runner and a triple Olympic champion. She held 34 world records and was the first woman to run 100 metres within 11 seconds. Biography Born as Renate ...

, but Tyus' time was downgraded to 11.08. By the time fully automatic timing became mandatory, January 1, 1977,

Annegret Richter Annegret Richter (born 13 October 1950) is a German (former West German) athlete and the 1976 Olympic 100 m champion. Biography Born Annegret Irrgang, she won her first international title at the 1971 European Championships, as a part of ...

's 11.01 from the 1976 Olympics had displaced them.

Competition format

The women's 100m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), quarterfinals, semifinals and a Final. The five fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the quarterfinals. The four fastest runners from each of the quarterfinal races advanced to the semifinals, where again the top four from each race advance to the final.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

Results

Heats

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semi-finals

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

External links

Official Olympic Report
''la84foundation.org''. Retrieved August 15, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics - Women's 100 metres Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics 100 metres at the Olympics 1968 in women's athletics Women's events at the 1968 Summer Olympics