# Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total number of 81 participating athletes from 66 nations, with ten qualifying heats (three qualified plus two fastest losers). Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress.
The gold medal was won by Great Britain's Linford Christie, who had originally won the bronze medal in 1988 but was elevated to silver following the disqualification of original gold medalist Ben Johnson for using stanozolol. Silver went to Namibia's Frankie Fredericks, who also finished second in the 200 metres in Barcelona, while Dennis Mitchell of the United States of America won the bronze. Namibia had never competed in the men's 100 metres before, so Fredericks's medal was that nation's first in the event; it was also the first medal by an African country in the event since 1908 (when Reggie Walker of South Africa won gold).

## Background

This was the twenty-second time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. The gold and bronze medalists from 1988, Americans Carl Lewis (the two-time defending gold medalist as well as three-time reigning world champion, struck by infection at the U.S. trials) and Calvin Smith, did not return, but British silver medalist Linford Christie (reigning Commonwealth and European champion) did. So did fourth-place finisher American Dennis Mitchell (who had taken bronze at the 1991 world championships), Brazilian fifth-place finisher Robson da Silva, Jamaican seventh-place finisher Ray Stewart, and the disqualified original champion, Canadian Ben Johnson. World championship runner-up American Leroy Burrell was also present in 1992.
The Cayman Islands, the Central African Republic, the Cook Islands, Cyprus, Gabon, Grenada, Honduras, Mauritania, Namibia, and Niger appeared in the event for the first time. It was also the only appearance of the Unified Team, following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Romania appeared independently for the first time since 1928. The United States made its 21st appearance in the event, most of any country, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

## Competition format

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 only the preliminaries.
The first round consisted of 10 heats, each with 8 athletes except the last (with 9). The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next two fastest runners overall. This made 32 quarterfinalists, who were divided into 4 heats of 8 runners. The top four runners in each quarterfinal advanced, with no "fastest loser" places. The 16 semifinalists competed in two heats of 8, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 9.86 | Carl Lewis | Tokyo (JPN) | August 25, 1991 |
| Olympic Record | 9.92 | Carl Lewis | Seoul (KOR) | September 24, 1988 |

## Results
### Heats
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Leroy Burrell | United States | 10.21 | Q |
| 2 | Satoru Inoue | Japan | 10.48 | Q |
| 3 | Jean-Olivier Zirignon | Ivory Coast | 10.55 | Q |
| 4 | Abdulieh Janneh | The Gambia | 10.71 | |
| 5 | Hassane Illiassou | Niger | 10.73 | |
| 6 | Khalid Juma Juma | Bahrain | 10.80 | |
| 7 | Jaime Zelaya | Honduras | 11.02 | |
| 8 | Claude Roumain | Haiti | 11.07 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.21 | Q |
| 2 | Vitaliy Savin | Unified Team | 10.29 | Q |
| 3 | Samuel Nchinda | Cameroon | 10.41 | Q |
| 4 | Gustavo Envela Mahua | Equatorial Guinea | 10.65 | |
| 5 | Florencio Aguilar | Panama | 10.73 | |
| 6 | Dominique Canti | San Marino | 10.80 | |
| — | Charles Tayot | Gabon | DNF | |
| — | Andreas Berger | Austria | DSQ | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 10.48 | Q |
| 2 | Arnaldo da Silva | Brazil | 10.55 | Q |
| 3 | Daniel Sangouma | France | 10.63 | Q |
| 4 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.77 | |
| 5 | Hussain Arif | Pakistan | 10.83 | |
| 6 | Fabian Muyaba | Zimbabwe | 10.84 | |
| 7 | Pascal Dangbo | Benin | 11.03 | |
| 8 | Henry Daley Colphon | Costa Rica | 11.11 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 10.29 | Q |
| 2 | Marcus Adam | Great Britain | 10.57 | Q |
| 3 | Atlee Mahorn | Canada | 10.64 | Q |
| 4 | Boevi Lawson | Togo | 10.69 | |
| 5 | Sriyantha Dissanayake | Sri Lanka | 10.87 | |
| 6 | Gabriel Simeon | Grenada | 11.10 | |
| 7 | Adam Hassan Sakak | Sudan | 11.12 | |
| 8 | Robinson Stewart | Swaziland | 11.20 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ray Stewart | Jamaica | 10.61 | Q |
| 2 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 10.63 | Q |
| 3 | John Myles-Mills | Ghana | 10.64 | Q |
| 4 | Neville Hodge | Virgin Islands | 10.71 | |
| 5 | Henrico Atkins | Barbados | 10.83 | |
| 6 | Golam Ambia | Bangladesh | 11.06 | |
| 7 | Gabrieli Qoro | Fiji | 11.14 | |
| 8 | Mark Sherwin | Cook Islands | 11.53 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.31 | Q |
| 2 | Ben Johnson | Canada | 10.55 | Q |
| 3 | Eric Akogyiram | Ghana | 10.60 | Q |
| 4 | Juan Trapero | Spain | 10.64 | |
| 5 | Joel Otim | Uganda | 10.84 | |
| 6 | Soryba Diakité | Guinea | 11.10 | |
| 7 | Ould Nouroudine | Mauritania | 11.22 | |
| 8 | Ahmed Shageef | Maldives | 11.36 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Olapade Adeniken | Nigeria | 10.36 | Q |
| 2 | Talal Mansour Al-Rahim | Qatar | 10.43 | Q |
| 3 | Stefan Burkart | Switzerland | 10.67 | Q |
| 4 | Visut Watanasin | Thailand | 10.72 | |
| 5 | André da Silva | Brazil | 10.78 | |
| 6 | Valentin Ngbogo | Central African Republic | 10.79 | |
| 7 | Bernard Manana | Papua New Guinea | 11.35 | |
| 8 | Sitthixay Sacpraseuth | Laos | 12.02 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chidi Imoh | Nigeria | 10.47 | Q |
| 2 | Daniel Cojocaru | Romania | 10.57 | Q |
| 3 | Sanusi Turay | Sierra Leone | 10.58 | Q |
| 4 | Kennedy Ondieki | Kenya | 10.60 | |
| 5 | Kareem Streete-Thompson | Cayman Islands | 10.78 | |
| 6 | David Nkoua | Republic of the Congo | 10.96 | |
| 7 | Emery Gill | Belize | 11.51 | |
| 8 | Ahmed Al-Moamari Bashir | Oman | 11.58 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Max Morinière | France | 10.36 | Q |
| 2 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 10.37 | Q |
| 3 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 10.45 | Q |
| 4 | Tatsuo Sugimoto | Japan | 10.56 | |
| 5 | Ku Wai Ming | Hong Kong | 10.74 | |
| 6 | Toluta'u Koula | Tonga | 10.85 | |
| 7 | Afonso Ferraz | Angola | 11.32 | |
| 8 | Fletcher Wamilee | Vanuatu | 11.41 | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Robson da Silva | Brazil | 10.24 | Q |
| 2 | Mark Witherspoon | United States | 10.27 | Q |
| 3 | Pavel Galkin | Unified Team | 10.43 | Q |
| 4 | Yiannis Zisimides | Cyprus | 10.51 | q |
| 5 | Shinji Aoto | Japan | 10.54 | q |
| 6 | Charles Louis Seck | Senegal | 10.57 | |
| 7 | Ousmane Diarra | Mali | 10.87 | |
| 8 | Bothloko Shebe | Lesotho | 10.94 | |
| — | Patrice Traoré Zeba | Burkina Faso | DNF | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mark Witherspoon | United States | 10.19 | Q |
| 2 | Robson da Silva | Brazil | 10.29 | Q |
| 3 | Talal Mansour Al-Rahim | Qatar | 10.32 | Q |
| 4 | Max Morinière | France | 10.34 | Q |
| 5 | Marcus Adam | Great Britain | 10.35 | |
| 6 | Pavel Galkin | Unified Team | 10.37 | |
| 7 | Eric Akogyiram | Ghana | 10.68 | |
| 8 | Atlee Mahorn | Canada | 10.77 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 10.13 | Q |
| 2 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 10.24 | Q |
| 3 | Vitaliy Savin | Unified Team | 10.33 | Q |
| 4 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.38 | Q |
| 5 | John Myles-Mills | Ghana | 10.41 | |
| 6 | Stefan Burkart | Switzerland | 10.57 | |
| 7 | Samuel Nchinda | Cameroon | 10.58 | |
| 8 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 10.69 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.22 | Q |
| 2 | Olapade Adeniken | Nigeria | 10.22 | Q |
| 3 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 10.31 | Q |
| 4 | Ray Stewart | Jamaica | 10.36 | Q |
| 5 | Satoru Inoue | Japan | 10.50 | |
| 6 | Daniel Cojocaru | Romania | 10.57 | |
| 7 | Daniel Sangouma | France | 10.64 | |
| 8 | Yiannis Zisimides | Cyprus | 10.65 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 10.07 | Q |
| 2 | Leroy Burrell | United States | 10.08 | Q |
| 3 | Chidi Imoh | Nigeria | 10.21 | Q |
| 4 | Ben Johnson | Canada | 10.30 | Q |
| 5 | Sanusi Turay | Sierra Leone | 10.40 | |
| 6 | Arnaldo da Silva | Brazil | 10.47 | |
| 7 | Shinji Aoto | Japan | 10.53 | |
| 8 | Jean-Olivier Zirignon | Ivory Coast | 10.54 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Leroy Burrell | United States | 9.97 | Q |
| 2 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 10.00 | Q |
| 3 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.10 | Q |
| 4 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.23 | Q |
| 5 | Chidi Imoh | Nigeria | 10.30 | |
| 6 | Robson da Silva | Brazil | 10.32 | |
| 7 | Vitaliy Savin | Unified Team | 10.33 | |
| 8 | Ben Johnson | Canada | 10.70 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 10.17 | Q |
| 2 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 10.21 | Q |
| 3 | Olapade Adeniken | Nigeria | 10.28 | Q |
| 4 | Ray Stewart | Jamaica | 10.33 | Q |
| 5 | Talal Mansour Al-Rahim | Qatar | 10.34 | |
| 6 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 10.34 | |
| 7 | Max Morinière | France | 10.42 | |
| — | Mark Witherspoon | United States | DNF | |

### Final

The final was held on August 1, 1992. Wind: +0.5m/s
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 9.96 |
| | Frankie Fredericks | Namibia | 10.02 |
| | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.04 |
| 4 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 10.09 |
| 5 | Leroy Burrell | United States | 10.10 |
| 6 | Olapade Adeniken | Nigeria | 10.12 |
| 7 | Ray Stewart | Jamaica | 10.22 |
| 8 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.26 |