Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1984 Olympic Games took place between August 3 and August 4.[1] Eighty-two athletes from 59 countries participated.[2] Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Carl Lewis 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 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.

Men's 100 metres
at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
VenueLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
DatesAugust 3 (heats and quarterfinals)
August 4 (semifinals and final)
Competitors82 from 59 nations
Winning time9.99
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Carl Lewis
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Sam Graddy
 United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ben Johnson
 Canada
← 1980
1988 →
Official Video Highlights

Background edit

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 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 winner Carl Lewis, who was attempting to match Jesse Owens's 1936 quadruple (100, 200, 4x100, and long jump). Sam Graddy and Ron Brown were the other members of the United States squad, edging out world record holder and World Championships runner-up Calvin Smith. Challengers to the hosts included World Championship finalists Wells, Paul Narracott of Australia, Christian Haas of West Germany, and Desai Williams of Canada, as well as up-and-coming Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson.[2]

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 edit

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.[2][3]

Records edit

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

World Record 9.93   Calvin Smith Colorado Springs (United States) July 3, 1983
Olympic Record 9.95   Jim Hines Mexico City (Mexico) October 14, 1968

Results edit

Heats edit

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

Heat 1 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carl Lewis   United States 10.32 Q
2 Tony Sharpe   Canada 10.38 Q
3 Mike McFarlane   Great Britain 10.47 Q
4 Hasely Crawford   Trinidad and Tobago 10.48 q
5 Peter Van Miltenburg   Australia 10.55 q
6 Vicente Daniel   Mozambique 10.81
7 Henry Ngolwe   Zambia 10.94
8 Paul Réneau   Belize 10.96

Heat 2 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Allan Wells   Great Britain 10.32 Q
2 Mohamed Purnomo   Indonesia 10.40 Q
3 José Javier Arqués   Spain 10.42 Q
4 Marc Gasparoni   France 10.47 q
5 Emilio Samayoa   Guatemala 10.84
6 Barnabé Messomo   Cameroon 10.98
7 Charles Mbazira   Uganda 11.03
8 Mohamed Abdullah   United Arab Emirates 11.11

Heat 3 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Desai Williams   Canada 10.35 Q
2 Chidi Imoh   Nigeria 10.39 Q
3 Charles-Louis Seck   Senegal 10.45 Q
4 Christian Nenepath   Indonesia 10.66
Henri Ndinga   Republic of the Congo 10.66
6 Abdullah Sulaiman Al-Akbary   Oman 10.86
7 Inoke Bainimoli   Fiji 11.15
8 Daniel André   Mauritius 11.19

Heat 4 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Sumet Promna   Thailand 10.52 Q
2 Paul Narracott   Australia 10.55 Q
3 Neville Hodge   Virgin Islands 10.58 Q
4 Audrick Lightbourne   Bahamas 10.64
5 Gus Young   Jamaica 10.64
6 Bill Trott   Bermuda 10.76
7 Kgosiemang Khumoyarano   Botswana 11.49

Heat 5 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Sam Graddy   United States 10.29 Q
2 Donovan Reid   Great Britain 10.41 Q
3 Jürgen Evers   West Germany 10.54 Q
4 Hiroki Fuwa   Japan 10.56
5 Philip Attipoe   Ghana 10.60
6 Jean-Yves Mallat   Lebanon 10.83
7 Markus Büchel   Liechtenstein 10.98
8 Clifford Mamba   Swaziland 11.24

Heat 6 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Stewart   Jamaica 10.24 Q
2 Antoine Richard   France 10.35 Q
3 Antonio Ullo   Italy 10.36 Q
4 Paulo Roberto Correia   Brazil 10.45 q
5 Anthony Jones   Barbados 10.69
6 Oliver Daniels   Liberia 10.76
7 Muhammad Mansha   Pakistan 10.87

Heat 7 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ben Johnson   Canada 10.35 Q
2 Yu Zhuanghui   China 10.53 Q
3 Bruno Marie-Rose   France 10.59 Q
4 Earl Haley   Guyana 10.74
5 Julien Thode   Netherlands Antilles 10.92
6 Ronald Russell   Virgin Islands 11.02
7 Denis Rose   Seychelles 11.04

Heat 8 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ronald Desruelles   Belgium 10.46 Q
2 Stefano Tilli   Italy 10.48 Q
3 Fred Martin   Australia 10.64 Q
4 Luís Barroso   Portugal 10.76
5 Gustavo Envela   Equatorial Guinea 10.79
6 Oumar Fye   The Gambia 10.87
7 Anthony Henry   Antigua and Barbuda 10.99
8 Saidur Rahman Dawn   Bangladesh 11.25

Heat 9 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ron Brown   United States 10.58 Q
2 Luis Morales   Puerto Rico 10.60 Q
3 Nelson dos Santos   Brazil 10.70 Q
4 Ralf Lübke   West Germany 10.70
5 Collins Mensah   Ghana 10.92
6 Ivan Benjamin   Sierra Leone 11.13
7 Johnson Kere   Solomon Islands 11.57

Heat 10 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Norman Edwards   Jamaica 10.57 Q
2 Dudley Parker   Bahamas 10.65 Q
3 Kouadio Otokpa   Ivory Coast 10.72 Q
4 Pierfrancesco Pavoni   Italy 10.72
5 Faraj Saad Marzouk   Qatar 10.78
6 Odiya Silweya   Malawi 11.22
7 Glen Abrahams   Costa Rica 11.31

Heat 11 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Christian Haas   West Germany 10.41 Q
2 Alfonso Pitters   Panama 10.50 Q
3 Katsuhiko Nakaya   Brazil 10.55 Q
4 Bakary Jarjue   The Gambia 10.68
5 Sim Deok-seop   South Korea 10.72
6 Guy Hill   British Virgin Islands 11.11
7 Aldo Salandra   El Salvador 11.31

Quarterfinals edit

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

Quarterfinal 1 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ben Johnson   Canada 10.41 Q
2 Donovan Reid   Great Britain 10.47 Q
3 Christian Haas   West Germany 10.51 Q
4 Hasely Crawford   Trinidad and Tobago 10.56
5 Antonio Ullo   Italy 10.57
6 Bruno Marie-Rose   France 10.60
7 Paul Narracott   Australia 10.60
8 Alfonso Pitters   Panama 10.63

Quarterfinal 2 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Sam Graddy   United States 10.15 Q
2 Tony Sharpe   Canada 10.33 Q
3 Norman Edwards   Jamaica 10.44 Q
4 Nelson dos Santos   Brazil 10.53
5 Charles-Louis Seck   Senegal 10.54
6 Yu Zhuanghui   China 10.59
7 Neville Hodge   Virgin Islands 10.69
Ronald Desruelles   Belgium DNS

Quarterfinal 3 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Stefano Tilli   Italy 10.39 Q
2 Ron Brown   United States 10.40 Q
3 Marc Gasparoni   France 10.56 Q
4 Sumet Promna   Thailand 10.61
5 Katsuhiko Nakaya   Brazil 10.69
6 Hiroki Fuwa   Japan 10.75
7 Philip Attipoe   Ghana 10.78
8 Kouadio Otokpa   Ivory Coast 10.80

Quarterfinal 4 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Stewart   Jamaica 10.30 Q
2 Allan Wells   Great Britain 10.33 Q
3 Mohamed Purnomo   Indonesia 10.43 Q
4 José Javier Arqués   Spain 10.52
Peter Van Miltenburg   Australia 10.52
6 Antoine Richard   France 10.53
7 Paulo Roberto Correia   Brazil 10.54
8 Audrick Lightbourne   Bahamas 10.59

Quarterfinal 5 edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carl Lewis   United States 10.04 Q
2 Desai Williams   Canada 10.27 Q
3 Luis Morales   Puerto Rico 10.35 Q
4 Mike McFarlane   Great Britain 10.36 q
5 Chidi Imoh   Nigeria 10.42
6 Dudley Parker   Bahamas 10.58
7 Fred Martin   Australia 10.61
8 Jürgen Evers   West Germany 10.69

Semifinals edit

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

Semifinal 1 edit

The wind was +0.7 m/s.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Ray Stewart   Jamaica 10.26 Q
2 Sam Graddy   United States 10.27 Q
3 Donovan Reid   Great Britain 10.32 Q
4 Ron Brown   United States 10.34 Q
5 Desai Williams   Canada 10.34
6 Christian Haas   West Germany 10.41
7 Marc Gasparoni   France 10.49
8 Mohamed Purnomo   Indonesia 10.51

Semifinal 2 edit

The wind was -1.5 m/s.

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Carl Lewis   United States 10.14 Q
2 Ben Johnson   Canada 10.42 Q
3 Mike McFarlane   Great Britain 10.45 Q
4 Tony Sharpe   Canada 10.52 Q
5 Luis Morales   Puerto Rico 10.54
6 Stefano Tilli   Italy 10.55
7 Norman Edwards   Jamaica 10.63
8 Allan Wells   Great Britain 10.71

Final edit

Wind = 0.2 m/s

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Carl Lewis   United States 9.99
  Sam Graddy   United States 10.19
  Ben Johnson   Canada 10.22
4 Ron Brown   United States 10.26
5 Mike McFarlane   Great Britain 10.27
6 Ray Stewart   Jamaica 10.29
7 Donovan Reid   Great Britain 10.33
8 Tony Sharpe   Canada 10.35

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "100 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  3. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 270–71.