# Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres event was one of the events in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The competition was held on July 24, 1980, and on July 25, 1980. Sixty-five athletes from 40 nations competed. Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Allan Wells of Great Britain, that nation's first title in the men's 100 metres since 1924. Cuba took its first medal in the event since 1964, with Silvio Leonard's silver matching the nation's best result. Petar Petrov's bronze was Bulgaria's first Olympic medal in the men's 100 metres.
Allan Wells and Silvio Leonard both clocked the same time in the final (10.25 seconds) which was the first time this had happened in the men's Olympic 100 metres final since the introduction of fully automatic timing.

## Background

This was the nineteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Four finalists from 1976 returned: defending gold medal winner Hasely Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago, silver medalist Don Quarrie of Jamaica, seventh-place finisher Klaus-Dieter Kurrat of East Germany, and eighth-place finisher Petar Petrov of Bulgaria, while the American team, including 1977 IAAF World Cup winner and world record holder Steve Williams, were absent as they boycotted the Games. Other notable entrants included Silvio Leonard of Cuba (1975 and 1979 Pan-American Games champion, 1976 Olympic quarterfinalist, 1977 World Cup bronze medal), Eugen Ray of East Germany (1977 World Cup silver medalist), and Allan Wells of Great Britain (second to Quarrie at the 1978 Commonwealth Games).
Eleven nations appeared in the event for the first time: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Guinea, Laos, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nepal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, and Syria, while the United States missed this event for the first (and so far only) time in Olympic history. France and Great Britain made their 16th appearances in the event, tied with Canada (also absent due to the boycott) for second-most, after the United States, with 18.

## 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, that system applied only in the preliminary heats. With only two more runners than in 1976, the format was held very static, including the number of heats.
The first round consisted of nine heats, each with six to eight athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next five fastest runners overall. This made 32 quarterfinalists, who were divided into four heats of eight runners. The top four runners in each quarterfinal advanced, with no "fastest loser" places. The sixteen semifinalists competed in two heats of eight, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.

## Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 9.95 | Jim Hines | Mexico City (MEX) | October 14, 1968 |
| Olympic Record | 9.95 | Jim Hines | Mexico City (MEX) | October 14, 1968 |

## Results
### Heats

* Held on July 24, 1980

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Silvio Leonard | Cuba | 10.33 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Okodogbe | Nigeria | 10.39 | Q |
| 3 | Christopher Brathwaite | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.44 | Q |
| 4 | Klaus-Dieter Kurrat | East Germany | 10.53 | q |
| 5 | Charles Kachenjela | Zambia | 11.03 | |
| 6 | John Carew | Sierra Leone | 11.11 | |
| 7 | Marc Larose | Seychelles | 11.27 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 10.56 | Q |
| 2 | Lambros Kefalas | Greece | 10.70 | Q |
| 3 | Katsuhiko Nakaya | Brazil | 10.72 | Q |
| 4 | Momar N'Dao | Senegal | 10.73 | |
| 5 | Eduardo Costa | Mozambique | 11.02 | |
| 6 | Lucien Josiah | Botswana | 11.15 | |
| 7 | Soutsakhone Somninhom | Laos | 11.69 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Aleksandr Aksinin | Soviet Union | 10.26 | Q |
| 2 | Leszek Dunecki | Poland | 10.42 | Q |
| 3 | Nelson dos Santos | Brazil | 10.51 | Q |
| 4 | Hammed Adio | Nigeria | 10.58 | q |
| 5 | Nabil Nahri | Syria | 10.67 | |
| 6 | Mwalimu Ally | Tanzania | 10.86 | |
| 7 | Rudolph George | Sierra Leone | 11.37 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Petar Petrov | Bulgaria | 10.32 | Q |
| 2 | Vladimir Muravyov | Soviet Union | 10.37 | Q |
| 3 | Osvaldo Lara | Cuba | 10.39 | Q |
| 4 | Antoine Richard | France | 10.51 | q |
| 5 | Pascal Aho | Benin | 11.01 | |
| 6 | Joseph Letseka | Lesotho | 11.21 | |
| 7 | Ilídio Coelho | Angola | 11.42 | |
| 8 | Besha Tuffa | Ethiopia | 11.55 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Eugen Ray | East Germany | 10.38 | Q |
| 2 | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.42 | Q |
| 3 | Drew McMaster | Great Britain | 10.43 | Q |
| 4 | Gerardo Suero | Dominican Republic | 10.53 | q |
| 5 | Roland Dagher | Lebanon | 11.01 | |
| 6 | Sheku Boima | Sierra Leone | 11.08 | |
| 7 | Raghu Raj Onta | Nepal | 11.61 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sören Schlegel | East Germany | 10.44 | Q |
| 2 | Hermann Panzo | France | 10.53 | Q |
| 3 | Tomás González | Cuba | 10.65 | Q |
| 4 | Antoine Kiakouama | Republic of the Congo | 10.69 | |
| 5 | Milton de Castro | Brazil | 10.74 | |
| 6 | Boubacar Diallo | Senegal | 10.75 | |
| 7 | Adille Sumariwalla | India | 11.04 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Allan Wells | Great Britain | 10.35 | Q |
| 2 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 10.37 | Q |
| 3 | Krzysztof Zwoliński | Poland | 10.60 | Q |
| 4 | Ivaylo Karanyotov | Bulgaria | 10.66 | |
| 5 | István Tatár | Hungary | 10.69 | |
| 6 | Mario Westbroek | Netherlands | 10.91 | |
| 7 | Oddur Sigurðsson | Iceland | 10.94 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | James Gilkes | Guyana | 10.34 | Q |
| 2 | Cameron Sharp | Great Britain | 10.38 | Q |
| 3 | Théophile Nkounkou | Republic of the Congo | 10.53 | Q |
| 4 | István Nagy | Hungary | 10.68 | |
| 5 | David Lukuba | Tanzania | 10.74 | |
| 6 | Paul Haba | Guinea | 11.19 | |
| 7 | Abdul Majeed Al-Mosawi | Kuwait | 11.28 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Grégoire Illorson | Cameroon | 10.34 | Q |
| 2 | Marian Woronin | Poland | 10.35 | Q |
| 3 | Andrey Shlyapnikov | Soviet Union | 10.43 | Q |
| 4 | Samson Oyeledun | Nigeria | 10.59 | q |
| 5 | Francis Adams | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.80 | |
| 6 | Peter Mwita | Tanzania | 11.07 | |
| 7 | Salif Koné | Mali | 11.07 | |
| 8 | José Luis Elias | Peru | 13.66 | |

### Quarterfinals

* Held on July 24, 1980

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Allan Wells | Great Britain | 10.11 | Q |
| 2 | Petar Petrov | Bulgaria | 10.13 | Q |
| 3 | Osvaldo Lara | Cuba | 10.21 | Q |
| 4 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 10.27 | Q |
| 5 | Hasely Crawford | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.28 | |
| 6 | Sören Schlegel | East Germany | 10.28 | |
| 7 | Nelson dos Santos | Brazil | 10.45 | |
| 8 | Lambros Kefalas | Greece | 10.62 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Aleksandr Aksinin | Soviet Union | 10.29 | Q |
| 2 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 10.29 | Q |
| 3 | Hermann Panzo | France | 10.29 | Q |
| 4 | Peter Okodogbe | Nigeria | 10.34 | Q |
| 5 | Leszek Dunecki | Poland | 10.40 | |
| 6 | Drew McMaster | Great Britain | 10.42 | |
| 7 | Tomás González | Cuba | 10.44 | |
| 8 | Gerardo Suero | Dominican Republic | 10.57 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Silvio Leonard | Cuba | 10.16 | Q |
| 2 | Marian Woronin | Poland | 10.27 | Q |
| 3 | Eugen Ray | East Germany | 10.30 | Q |
| 4 | Christopher Brathwaite | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.37 | Q |
| 5 | Andrei Shlyapnikov | Soviet Union | 10.41 | |
| 6 | Théophile Nkounkou | Republic of the Congo | 10.59 | |
| 7 | Hammed Adio | Nigeria | 10.67 | |
| 8 | Katsuhiko Nakaya | Brazil | 10.70 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | James Gilkes | Guyana | 10.26 | Q |
| 2 | Grégoire Illorson | Cameroon | 10.29 | Q |
| 3 | Vladimir Muravyov | Soviet Union | 10.34 | Q |
| 4 | Cameron Sharp | Great Britain | 10.38 | Q |
| 5 | Antoine Richard | France | 10.45 | |
| 6 | Klaus-Dieter Kurrat | East Germany | 10.54 | |
| 7 | Krzysztof Zwoliński | Poland | 10.54 | |
| 8 | Samson Oyeledun | Nigeria | 10.73 | |

### Semifinals

* Held on July 25, 1980

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Petar Petrov | Bulgaria | 10.39 | Q |
| 2 | Silvio Leonard | Cuba | 10.40 | Q |
| 3 | Aleksandr Aksinin | Soviet Union | 10.45 | Q |
| 4 | Hermann Panzo | France | 10.45 | Q |
| 5 | Don Quarrie | Jamaica | 10.55 | |
| 6 | Pietro Mennea | Italy | 10.58 | |
| 7 | Cameron Sharp | Great Britain | 10.60 | |
| 8 | Grégoire Illorson | Cameroon | 10.60 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Allan Wells | Great Britain | 10.27 | Q |
| 2 | Osvaldo Lara | Cuba | 10.34 | Q |
| 3 | Vladimir Muravyov | Soviet Union | 10.42 | Q |
| 4 | Marian Woronin | Poland | 10.43 | Q |
| 5 | James Gilkes | Guyana | 10.44 | |
| 6 | Eugen Ray | East Germany | 10.47 | |
| 7 | Peter Okodogbe | Nigeria | 10.51 | |
| 8 | Christopher Brathwaite | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.54 | |

### Final

* Held on July 25, 1980
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Allan Wells | Great Britain | 10.25 |
| | Silvio Leonard | Cuba | 10.25 |
| | Petar Petrov | Bulgaria | 10.39 |
| 4 | Aleksandr Aksinin | Soviet Union | 10.42 |
| 5 | Osvaldo Lara | Cuba | 10.43 |
| 6 | Vladimir Muravyov | Soviet Union | 10.44 |
| 7 | Marian Woronin | Poland | 10.46 |
| 8 | Hermann Panzo | France | 10.49 |