Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

Prior to the 2008 season, Usain Bolt was known as a 200-metre sprinter, having set the world youth best in the event four years earlier. He only dabbled in the 100 metres the year before with a one off race in Rethymno. While people were impressed with his 10.03,[7] it didn't strike fear in the 9.9 sprinters around the world. In early May, he talked his coach into letting him try the 100 again, his 9.76 was the second fastest in history, only .02 behind fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell's world record.[8] At the end of the month he entered another 100 metres at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York City. The result was a new world record 9.72.

While Bolt's slow starts were seen as a liability, once he got moving, nobody seemed able to match his top end speed. He easily had the fastest times in both the quarterfinal and semi-final rounds, while injured Gay and Obikwelu were eliminated. The center lanes of the final, reserved for the fastest qualifiers, included Bolt, Powell, Dix and another collegiate phenom from LSU, Richard Thompson.

In the final, the third Jamaican in the race, Michael Frater got the best start, along with Thompson and Darvis Patton. 30 metres into the race, Bolt was into his full running position and had pulled even with the leader, Thompson. By the next 20 metres, Bolt was simply pulling away, with Thompson breaking up a Jamaican sweep of Frater and Powell. 20 metres before the finish, already with a 3-metre lead, Bolt held out his arms in celebration. Behind him, Dix and Churandy Martina were making a late rush to pick off Frater and Powell. Turning to look back at his vanquished competition, Bolt crossed the finish line sideways, still with the "showboating" and lack of form, his time was a new world record, 9.69. Thompson later said "I could see him slowing down ahead as I was still pumping away."[9]

This was the twenty-sixth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Four finalists from 2004 returned: silver medalist Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, fifth-place finisher Asafa Powell of Jamaica, sixth-place finisher Kim Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Aziz Zakari of Ghana, who had been unable to finish the final. Collins and Zakari had also been to the final in 2000. Defending gold medalist Justin Gatlin was banned at the time for failing a second drugs test, testing positive for testosterone.[10]

In Gatlin's absence, the United States team was led by Tyson Gay, the reigning world champion, but who had suffered a hamstring injury at the U.S. trials. An ascendant Jamaican team included Powell, who had held the world record from 2005 to 2008, and Usain Bolt, who had taken the world record in May of 2008.[2]

The Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu appeared in the event for the first time. The United States made its 25rd appearance in the event, most of any country, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard (10.21) in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard (10.28) in the same qualifying period.[11]

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 heats and quarterfinals.

The first round consisted of 10 heats, each with 8 or 9 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next ten 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.[2]

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

World record	Usain Bolt (JAM)	9.72 s	New York City, United States	31 May 2008
Olympic record	Donovan Bailey (CAN)	9.84 s	Atlanta, United States	27 July 1996

The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.

Date	Event	Athlete	Time	OR	WR
16 August	Final	Usain Bolt (JAM)	9.69 s	OR	WR

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Eight years after the event, the IOC reanalyzed doping samples and disqualified Samuel Francis for having stanozolol in his sample.[12]

• Results