Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

The women's 100 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 20 to 21.[1]

Women's 100 metres at the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Venue	Athens Olympic Stadium
Date	20–21 August
Competitors	63 from 56 nations
Winning time	10.93 s
Medalists
Yulia Nestsiarenka  Belarus Lauryn Williams  United States Veronica Campbell  Jamaica

Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men	women
5000 m	men	women
10,000 m	men	women
100 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men	women
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men	women
Road events
Marathon	men	women
20 km walk	men	women
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men	women
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men	women
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men	women
Combined events
Heptathlon		women
Decathlon	men
Wheelchair races

In the first round, the first three runners from each of the eight heats, together with the eight next fastest overall runners (8×3+8=32), automatically qualified for the second round. In the second round, these thirty-two runners competed in four heats, with the first three from each heat and the four next fastest overall (4×3+4=16) advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals, only the first four runners from each of the two heats move on to the final (2×4=8).

With some of the world's most promising sprinters, including 2000 Olympic champion Marion Jones and home favorite Ekaterini Thanou, absent, the race had become widely open in the final. The start was notably uneven as Bulgaria's Ivet Lalova and Jamaica's Sherone Simpson jumped into upright running positions quickly from the blocks, while Simpson's Jamaican teammates Aleen Bailey and Veronica Campbell and American favorite Lauryn Williams got out behind. Campbell further seemed to stumble while Williams powerfully overstride from last into the lead in the middle of the track by the halfway mark. Simpson faded quickly from her fast start being overtaken by Belarusian sprinter Yulia Nestsiarenka, who attempted to find her stride with just 30 metres into the race on the outside. While Williams and Campbell found their stride to maintain a commanding lead towards the 60-metre mark, Nestsiarenka held off a late charge to continue her march past the field and produce a storming finish with a Belarusian record of 10.93 seconds, making her the nation's first Olympic champion in this event.[2] Following an unexpected victory from Nestsiarenka, Williams edged the fast closing Campbell for a silver medal by a hundredth of a second, finishing at 10.96.[3][4]