# Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1968 Olympic Games took place at Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City, Mexico, on October 13 and 14. Sixty-five athletes from 42 nations took part. Each nation was limited to 3 runners by rules in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The final was won by American Jim Hines, the second consecutive time the event was won by an American (and the nation's 12th title in the event overall). Jamaica won its first medal in the event since 1952.

## Background

This was the sixteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. The gold medalist from 1964, American Bob Hayes, did not return (playing in the National Football League instead), but Tokyo silver medalist Cuban Enrique Figuerola and bronze medalist Canadian Harry Jerome did. The American team was led by Jim Hines and Charles Greene, two of the three men to establish the world record at 9.9 seconds during the Night of Speed; Mel Pender, a 1964 finalist, was the third member of the team. Jamaican Lennox Miller was the strongest challenger to the Americans.
El Salvador, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Tanzania were represented in the event for the first time. East and West Germany also competed separately for the first time. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first sixteen Olympic men's 100 metres events.

## Competition format

The event retained the same basic four round format from 1920–1964: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. A significant change, however, was the introduction of the "fastest loser" system. Previously, advancement depended solely on the runners' place in their heat. The 1968 competition added advancement places to the fastest runners across the heats in the first round who did not advance based on place.
The first round consisted of nine heats, most with 7–8 athletes but the first having only 5. 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 8 runners. The top four runners in each quarterfinal advanced (with no "fastest loser" provision in rounds after the first). The 16 semifinalists competed in two heats of 8, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | 9.9 | Jim Hines | Sacramento, United States | 20 June 1968 |
| World record | 9.9 | Ronnie Ray Smith | Sacramento, United States | 20 June 1968 |
| World record | 9.9 | Charles Greene | Sacramento, United States | 20 June 1968 |
| Olympic record | 10.0 | Bob Hayes | Tokyo, Japan | 15 October 1964 |
Jim Hines had a time of 9.9 seconds (hand-timed) or 9.95 seconds (auto-timed) in the final. This equalled the world record and set a new Olympic record, which were measured by hand-timing at that point. The 9.95 second time was recognized as the initial world record for electronic timed results when the IAAF changed its records rules in 1977.

## Results
### Heats

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

#### Heat 1

The 2.8 m/s tailwind made this heat ineligible for records.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charles Greene | United States | 10.09 | Q |
| 2 | Hideo Iijima | Japan | 10.24 | Q |
| 3 | Canagasabai Kunalan | Singapore | 10.47 | Q |
| 4 | Wiesław Maniak | Poland | 10.49 | |
| 5 | Barka Sy | Senegal | 10.61 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Hines | United States | 10.26 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa | Madagascar | 10.30 | Q |
| 3 | Gaoussou Koné | Ivory Coast | 10.37 | Q |
| 4 | Amos Omolo | Uganda | 10.50 | q |
| 5 | Porfirio Veras | Dominican Republic | 10.51 | |
| 6 | Julius Sang | Kenya | 10.64 | |
| 7 | Jorge Vizcarrondo | Puerto Rico | 10.71 | |
| 8 | Manuel Planchart | Venezuela | 10.80 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Enrique Figuerola | Cuba | 10.40 | Q |
| 2 | Iván Moreno | Chile | 10.53 | Q |
| 3 | Barrie Kelly | Great Britain | 10.55 | Q |
| 4 | Yevgeny Sinyayev | Soviet Union | 10.56 | |
| 5 | Zenon Nowosz | Poland | 10.57 | |
| 6 | Charles Asati | Kenya | 10.63 | |
| 7 | Jimmy Sierra | Colombia | 10.88 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pablo Montes | Cuba | 10.14 | Q |
| 2 | Mel Pender | United States | 10.35 | Q |
| 3 | Ron Jones | Great Britain | 10.45 | Q |
| 4 | Oleksiy Khlopotnov | Soviet Union | 10.49 | |
| 5 | Norris Stubbs | Bahamas | 10.67 | |
| 6 | Chen Chuan-show | Taiwan | 10.91 | |
| 7 | Philippe Housiaux | Belgium | 10.94 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Roger Bambuck | France | 10.18 | Q |
| 2 | Heinz Erbstößer | East Germany | 10.42 | Q |
| 3 | Michael Ahey | Ghana | 10.59 | Q |
| 4 | Bernard Nottage | Bahamas | 10.64 | |
| 5 | Ennio Preatoni | Italy | 10.65 | |
| 6 | Hansruedi Wiedmer | Switzerland | 10.75 | |
| 7 | Su Wen-ho | Taiwan | 10.81 | |

#### Heat 6

The tailwind of 3.8 m/s made this heat ineligible for records.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lennox Miller | Jamaica | 10.15 | Q |
| 2 | Hartmut Schelter | East Germany | 10.34 | Q |
| 3 | Manikavasagam Jegathesan | Malaysia | 10.35 | Q |
| 4 | Robert Ojo | Nigeria | 10.47 | q |
| 5 | Ron Monsegue | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.56 | |
| 6 | Rogelio Onofre | Philippines | 10.58 | |
| - | Tom Robinson | Bahamas | DNF | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Harry Jerome | Canada | 10.35 | Q |
| 2 | Karl-Peter Schmidtke | West Germany | 10.38 | Q |
| 3 | Harald Eggers | East Germany | 10.38 | Q |
| 4 | Kola Abdulai | Nigeria | 10.45 | q |
| 5 | Miguel Angel González | Mexico | 10.59 | |
| 6 | Pablo McNeil | Jamaica | 10.62 | |
| 7 | Hassan El-Mech | Morocco | 10.79 | |
| 8 | Morgan Gesmalla | Sudan | 11.09 | |

#### Heat 8

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gérard Fenouil | France | 10.42 | Q |
| 2 | Gerhard Wucherer | West Germany | 10.42 | Q |
| 3 | Marian Dudziak | Poland | 10.46 | Q |
| 4 | Vladislav Sapeya | Soviet Union | 10.46 | q |
| 5 | Eddy Monsels | Suriname | 10.48 | q |
| 6 | Greg Lewis | Australia | 10.55 | |
| 7 | Félix Bécquer | Mexico | 10.72 | |
| 8 | Rafael Santos | El Salvador | 11.22 | |

#### Heat 9

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hermes Ramírez | Cuba | 10.30 | Q |
| 2 | Andrés Calonge | Argentina | 10.44 | Q |
| 3 | Jocelyn Delecour | France | 10.45 | Q |
| 4 | Gert Metz | West Germany | 10.55 | |
| 5 | Norman Chihota | Tanzania | 10.57 | |
| 6 | Horacio Esteves | Venezuela | 10.65 | |
| 7 | José Luis Sánchez Paraíso | Spain | 10.69 | |
| 8 | Juan Argüello | Nicaragua | 11.18 | |

### Quarterfinals

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

#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lennox Miller | Jamaica | 10.11 | Q |
| 2 | Jim Hines | United States | 10.14 | Q |
| 3 | Enrique Figuerola | Cuba | 10.23 | Q |
| 4 | Iván Moreno | Chile | 10.37 | Q |
| 5 | Andrés Calonge | Argentina | 10.39 | |
| 6 | Ron Jones | Great Britain | 10.42 | |
| 7 | Karl-Peter Schmidtke | West Germany | 10.48 | |
| 8 | Vladislav Sapeya | Soviet Union | 10.51 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hermes Ramírez | Cuba | 10.10 | Q |
| 2 | Mel Pender | United States | 10.16 | Q |
| 3 | Roger Bambuck | France | 10.17 | Q |
| 4 | Harry Jerome | Canada | 10.22 | Q |
| 5 | Heinz Erbstößer | East Germany | 10.28 | |
| 6 | Gerhard Wucherer | West Germany | 10.33 | |
| 7 | Kola Abdulai | Nigeria | 10.38 | |
| 8 | Michael Ahey | Ghana | 10.49 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

The 4.2 m/s tailwind made this heat ineligible for records.
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pablo Montes | Cuba | 10.16 | Q |
| 2 | Hartmut Schelter | East Germany | 10.29 | Q |
| 3 | Hideo Iijima | Japan | 10.31 | Q |
| 4 | Gérard Fenouil | France | 10.31 | Q |
| 5 | Marian Dudziak | Poland | 10.32 | |
| 6 | Manikavasagam Jegathesan | Malaysia | 10.38 | |
| 7 | Amos Omolo | Uganda | 10.45 | |
| 8 | Robert Ojo | Nigeria | 10.45 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Greene | United States | 10.02 | Q |
| 2 | Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa | Madagascar | 10.18 | Q, NR |
| 3 | Gaoussou Koné | Ivory Coast | 10.22 | Q |
| 4 | Harald Eggers | East Germany | 10.25 | Q |
| 5 | Barrie Kelly | Great Britain | 10.35 | |
| 6 | Jocelyn Delecour | France | 10.36 | |
| 7 | Canagasabai Kunalan | Singapore | 10.38 | |
| 8 | Eddy Monsels | Suriname | 10.45 | |

### Semifinals

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

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jim Hines | United States | 10.08 | Q |
| 2 | Roger Bambuck | France | 10.11 | Q |
| 3 | Harry Jerome | Canada | 10.17 | Q |
| 4 | Mel Pender | United States | 10.21 | Q |
| 5 | Enrique Figuerola | Cuba | 10.23 | |
| 6 | Hermes Ramírez | Cuba | 10.25 | |
| 7 | Harald Eggers | East Germany | 10.29 | |
| 8 | Hideo Iijima | Japan | 10.34 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Charlie Greene | United States | 10.13 | Q |
| 2 | Lennox Miller | Jamaica | 10.15 | Q |
| 3 | Pablo Montes | Cuba | 10.19 | Q |
| 4 | Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa | Madagascar | 10.26 | Q |
| 5 | Gaoussou Koné | Ivory Coast | 10.27 | |
| 6 | Iván Moreno | Chile | 10.37 | |
| 7 | Gérard Fenouil | France | 10.40 | |
| 8 | Hartmut Schelter | East Germany | 10.40 | |

### Final

Mel Pender and Charlie Greene were known for their fast starts. In the final, while Greene reacted to the gun noticeably slower, Pender did not disappoint, taking a quick lead. Greene, Lennox Miller and Jim Hines were the next chase group, the three outer lanes already left behind. The diminutive Pender's lead disappeared, the much larger Miller leading the group in passing by the halfway point. Hines was just getting into gear, exploding past Miller and putting a gap on the field to take the race by two metres. Miller leaned but he already had a metre on Green who was a metre ahead of Pablo Montes, Roger Bambuck and Pender to take the bronze.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time (h) | Time (a) | Notes |
| | 3 | Jim Hines | United States | 9.9 | 9.95 | =WR (h), WR (a) |
| | 4 | Lennox Miller | Jamaica | 10.0 | 10.04 | |
| | 1 | Charlie Greene | United States | 10.0 | 10.07 | |
| 4 | 2 | Pablo Montes | Cuba | 10.1 | 10.14 | |
| 5 | 6 | Roger Bambuck | France | 10.1 | 10.14 | |
| 6 | 5 | Mel Pender | United States | 10.1 | 10.17 | |
| 7 | 7 | Harry Jerome | Canada | 10.2 | 10.20 | |
| 8 | 8 | Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa | Madagascar | 10.2 | 10.28 | Photo-finish shows 10.275 |
* Wind speed = 0.3 m/s (0.67 mph)