100 metres
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100 m (one hundred metres) is the shortest outdoor sprint race distance in athletics. The reigning 100 m Olympic champion is often named "the fastest man/woman in the world", even though the world record for the 200 m has had a faster average speed in the men's race since the mid 1990s.
In the past, athletes often competed over 100 yards (91 m) instead of the 100 m, especially in the United States. This shorter distance is now obsolete. Indoors events are normally held over 60 m (sometimes 50 m or 55 m) as few facilities have a 100 m indoor straight.
On an outdoor 400 m running track, the 100 m is run on the home straight, the start being set on an extension to make it a straight-line race.
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[edit] Record performances
Major 100 m races, such as at the Olympic Games, attract much attention, particularly when the world record is thought to be within reach.
The men's world record has been improved upon twelve times since the introduction of electronic timing in 1968, never being surpassed by more than 0.05 s at a time. The current men's world record of 9.69 s is held by Usain Bolt of Jamaica, set at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games final on August 16, 2008. The current women's world record of 10.49 s was set by Florence Griffith-Joyner, in Indianapolis, Indiana, on 16 July 1988.
Illegal drug use has been seen by some people as a means to gain a competitive edge; in particular, the scandal at the 1988 Summer Olympics when the winner Ben Johnson was stripped of his medal. In 2003 revelations of failed drug tests by sprinting legend Carl Lewis before the 1988 Seoul Olympics also put the validity of his achievements into question.[1]
[edit] Start
At the start, some athletes play psychological games such as trying to be last to the starting blocks, although direct intimidation would be considered unsportsmanlike. The starter will keep the sprinters in the set position for an unpredictable time of around two seconds and then fire the starting gun.
The time between the gun and first kick against the starting block is measured electronically, via sensors built in the gun and the blocks. A reaction time less than 0.1 s is considered a false start. The 0.1-second interval accounts for the sum of the time it takes for the sound of the starter's pistol to reach the runners' ears, and the time it takes to react to it.
For many years a sprinter was disqualified if responsible for two false starts individually. However, this rule allowed some major races to be restarted so many times that the sprinters started to lose focus. The current rule, introduced in February 2003, is that, after one false start, anyone responsible for a subsequent false start is disqualified immediately. This rule has led to some sprinters deliberately false-starting to gain a psychological advantage: an individual with a slower reaction time might false-start, forcing the faster starters to wait and be sure of hearing the gun for the subsequent start, thereby losing some of their advantage. In order to avoid such abuse, the IAAF considered in 2005 to change the rule so that the first false starting athlete is immediately disqualified,[2] but many countries objected as it would not leave any room for innocent mistakes. Justin Gatlin commented, "Just a flinch or a leg cramp could cost you a year's worth of work."[3]
[edit] Climatic conditions
Climatic conditions are a crucial factor for good performances in the 100 m. Air resistance is the primary climatic factor in sprint performances. A strong head wind is very detrimental to performance, while a tail wind can improve performances significantly. For this reason, a maximum tail wind of 2.0 m/s is allowed for a 100 m performance to be considered eligible for records, or "wind legal". The fastest recorded time for the distance, although excluded from the records because of wind assistance, was 9.68 s by Tyson Gay of the United States on 29 June 2008 during the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon; the tail wind speed was 4.1 m/s, more than double the IAAF legal limit.[4]
Furthermore, sprint athletes perform better at high altitudes because of the thinner air, which provides less air resistance. In theory, the thinner air would also make breathing slightly more difficult (due to the partial pressure of oxygen being lower), but this difference is negligeable for sprint distances where all the oxygen needed for the short dash is already in the muscles and bloodstream when the race starts. While there are no limitations on altitude, performances made at altitudes greater than 1000 m above sea level are marked with an "A".[5]
[edit] Fastest 100 metres runners
[edit] Top thirteen all-time athletes — men
Updated 2 October 2008[6]
| Rank | Time | Wind (m/s) | Athlete | Nation | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9.69 | 0.0 | Usain Bolt |  Jamaica |
16 August 2008 | Beijing |
| 2 | 9.72 | +0.2 | Asafa Powell | Jamaica |
2 September 2008 | Lausanne |
| 3 | 9.77 | +1.6 | Tyson Gay |  United States |
28 June 2008 | Eugene |
| 4 | 9.79 | +0.1 | Maurice Greene | United States |
16 June 1999 | Athens |
| 5 | 9.84 | +0.7 | Donovan Bailey |  Canada |
27 July 1996 | Atlanta |
| +0.2 | Bruny Surin | Canada |
22 August 1999 | Seville | ||
| 7 | 9.85 | +1.2 | Leroy Burrell | United States |
6 July 1994 | Lausanne |
| +0.6 | Justin Gatlin | United States |
22 August 2004 | Athens | ||
| +1.7 | Olusoji Fasuba |  Nigeria |
12 May 2006 | Doha | ||
| 10 | 9.86 | +1.2 | Carl Lewis | United States |
25 August 1991 | Tokyo |
| −0.4 | Frankie Fredericks |  Namibia |
3 July 1996 | Lausanne | ||
| +1.8 | Ato Boldon |  Trinidad and Tobago |
19 April 1998 | Walnut | ||
| +0.6 | Francis Obikwelu |  Portugal |
22 August 2004 | Athens |
Notes
- Usain Bolt's 9.69 at Beijing on 16 August 2008 is also the Olympic record.
- Justin Gatlin ran 9.77 in Doha on 12 May 2006, which was at the time ratified as a world record. However, the performance was annulled in 2007 after he failed a doping test in April 2006.
- Ben Johnson ran 9.79 at Seoul on 24 September 1988, but he was disqualified after he tested positive for stanozolol after the race. He subsequently admitted to drug use between 1981 and 1988, and his time of 9.83 at Rome on 30 August 1987 was invalidated. Carl Lewis's 9.92 in the Seoul race was therefore recognized as the world record, and his two prior runs of 9.93 were seen as having equalled the previous world record.
- Tim Montgomery's time (9.78 at Paris on 14 September 2002) was invalidated following his indictment in the BALCO scandal on drug use and drug trafficking charges. The time had stood as the world record until Asafa Powell first ran 9.77.
- Ato Boldon has recorded 9.86 seconds on four occasions: the one detailed here is the first.
[edit] Top ten all-time athletes — women
Updated 2 October 2008
| Rank | Time | Wind (m/s) | Athlete | Nation | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10.49 | 0.0 | Florence Griffith Joyner | United States |
16 July 1988 | Indianapolis |
| 2 | 10.65A | +1.1 | Marion Jones | United States |
12 September 1998 | Johannesburg |
| 3 | 10.73 | +2.0 | Christine Arron |  France |
19 August 1998 | Budapest |
| 4 | 10.74 | +1.3 | Merlene Ottey | Jamaica |
7 September 1996 | Milan |
| 5 | 10.76 | +1.7 | Evelyn Ashford | United States |
22 August 1984 | Zürich |
| 6 | 10.77 | +0.9 | Irina Privalova |  Russia |
6 July 1994 | Lausanne |
| +0.7 | Ivet Lalova |  Bulgaria |
19 June 2004 | Plovdiv | ||
| 8 | 10.78A | +1.0 | Dawn Sowell | United States |
3 June 1989 | Provo |
| 10.78 | +1.8 | Torri Edwards | United States |
28 June 2008 | Eugene | |
| 0.0 | Shelly-Ann Fraser | Jamaica |
17 August 2008 | Beijing |
[edit] See also
- 100-yard dash
- National champions 100 metres (men)
- World record progression 100 metres men
- World record progression 100 metres women
[edit] References
- ^ "'Who cares I failed drug test?'", Guardian. Retrieved on 6 September 2008.
- ^ "IAAF keeps one false-start rule", BBC. Retrieved on 15 August 2008.
- ^ "Gatlin queries false start change". Retrieved on 15 August 2008.
- ^ Zinser, Lynn (30 June 2008), "Shattering Limits on the Track, and in the Pool" The New York Times
- ^ 100 metres IAAF
- ^ "Top List - 100m". IAAF. Retrieved on 2008-09-2.
[edit] External links
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