# Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

The women's 100 metres competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was held at the Olympic Stadium on 24–25 July.

## Competition format

The women's 100m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), Quarterfinals, Semifinals and a Final. The five fastest competitors from each race in the heats plus the next two fastest overall qualified for the Quarterfinals. The four fastest competitors from each of the Quarterfinal races qualified for the Semifinals, where again the four fastest runners from each heat advanced to the final.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Inge Helten (FRG) | 11.04 | Fürth, West Germany | June 13, 1976 |
| Olympic record | Renate Stecher (GDR) | 11.07 | Munich, East Germany | 2 September 1972 |

## Results
### Heats

Qual. rule: first 5 of each heat (Q) plus the two fastest times (q) qualified.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 11.26 | Q |
| 2 | Lyudmila Zharkova-Maslakova | Soviet Union | 11.30 | Q |
| 3 | Rosie Allwood | Jamaica | 11.35 | Q |
| 4 | Marjorie Bailey | Canada | 11.46 | Q |
| 5 | Sharon Colyear-Danville | Great Britain | 11.47 | Q |
| 6 | Carol Cummings | Jamaica | 11.69 | q |
| 7 | Lorna Forde | Barbados | 12.02 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brenda Morehead | United States | 11.35 | Q |
| 2 | Patty Loverock | Canada | 11.47 | Q |
| 3 | Lelieth Hodges | Jamaica | 11.54 | Q |
| 4 | Esmeralda de Jesus Garcia | Brazil | 11.80 | Q |
| 5 | Debbie Jones | Bermuda | 11.84 | Q |
| 6 | Rita Hendricks | Virgin Islands | 13.51 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Raelene Boyle | Australia | 11.39 | Q |
| 2 | Linda Haglund | Sweden | 11.40 | Q |
| 3 | Sue Jowett | New Zealand | 11.70 | Q |
| 4 | Isabel Taylor | Cuba | 11.73 | Q |
| 5 | Margaret Howe | Canada | 11.83 | Q |
| 6 | Shonel Ferguson | Bahamas | 12.26 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 11.28 | Q |
| 2 | Vera Anisimova | Soviet Union | 11.37 | Q |
| 3 | Silvia Chivás | Cuba | 11.43 | Q |
| 4 | Elvira Possekel | West Germany | 11.48 | Q |
| 5 | Denise Robertson | Australia | 11.50 | Q |
| 6 | Martina Blos | East Germany | 11.70 | |
| 7 | Carolina Rieuwpassa | Indonesia | 11.98 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marlies Oelsner | East Germany | 11.36 | Q |
| 2 | Andrea Lynch | Great Britain | 11.40 | Q |
| 3 | Sylviane Telliez | France | 11.47 | Q |
| 4 | Nadezhda Besfamilnaya | Soviet Union | 11.52 | Q |
| 5 | Lea Alaerts | Belgium | 11.63 | Q |
| 6 | Divina Estrella | Dominican Republic | 12.12 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 11.19 | Q |
| 2 | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 11.21 | Q |
| 3 | Evelyn Ashford | United States | 11.25 | Q |
| 4 | Debbie Wells | Australia | 11.47 | Q |
| 5 | Carmen Valdés | Cuba | 11.47 | Q |
| 6 | Mona-Lisa Pursiainen | Finland | 11.62 | q |
| 7 | Antoinette Gauthier | Haiti | 13.11 | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 11.05 | Q, OR |
| 2 | Marlies Oelsner | East Germany | 11.27 | Q |
| 3 | Rosie Allwood | Jamaica | 11.34 | Q |
| 4 | Patty Loverock | Canada | 11.50 | Q |
| 5 | Nadezhda Besfamilnaya | Soviet Union | 11.63 | |
| 6 | Sylviane Telliez | France | 11.64 | |
| 7 | Esmeralda de Jesus Garcia | Brazil | 11.77 | |
| — | Debbie Jones | Bermuda | DNS | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 11.20 | Q |
| 2 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 11.36 | Q |
| 3 | Andrea Lynch | Great Britain | 11.36 | Q |
| 4 | Linda Haglund | Sweden | 11.48 | Q |
| 5 | Carmen Valdés | Cuba | 11.52 | |
| 6 | Denise Robertson-Boyd | Australia | 11.56 | |
| 7 | Carol Cummings | Jamaica | 11.75 | |
| 8 | Sue Jowett | New Zealand | 11.81 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Evelyn Ashford | United States | 11.28 | Q |
| 2 | Raelene Boyle | Australia | 11.29 | Q |
| 3 | Lyudmila Zharkova-Maslakova | Soviet Union | 11.37 | Q |
| 4 | Silvia Chivás | Cuba | 11.42 | Q |
| 5 | Sharon Colyear-Danville | Great Britain | 11.51 | |
| 6 | Elvira Possekel | West Germany | 11.58 | |
| 7 | Lea Alaerts | Belgium | 11.71 | |
| 8 | Margaret Howe | Canada | 11.96 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 11.22 | Q |
| 2 | Brenda Morehead | United States | 11.30 | Q |
| 3 | Marjorie Bailey | Canada | 11.44 | Q |
| 4 | Vera Anisimova | Soviet Union | 11.47 | Q |
| 5 | Debbie Wells | Australia | 11.51 | |
| 6 | Lelieth Hodges | Jamaica | 11.58 | |
| 7 | Mona-Lisa Pursiainen | Finland | 11.72 | |
| 8 | Isabel Taylor | Cuba | 11.92 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 11.01 | Q, WR |
| 2 | Evelyn Ashford | United States | 11.21 | Q |
| 3 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 11.26 | Q |
| 4 | Marlies Oelsner | East Germany | 11.29 | Q |
| 5 | Rosie Allwood | Jamaica | 11.32 | |
| 6 | Vera Anisimova | Soviet Union | 11.39 | |
| 7 | Silvia Chivás | Cuba | 11.43 | |
| 8 | Marjorie Bailey | Canada | 11.47 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 11.10 | Q |
| 2 | Inge Helten | West Germany | 11.18 | Q |
| 3 | Raelene Boyle | Australia | 11.22 | Q |
| 4 | Andrea Lynch | Great Britain | 11.28 | Q |
| 5 | Lyudmila Zharkova-Maslakova | Soviet Union | 11.34 | |
| 6 | Brenda Morehead | United States | 11.38 | |
| 7 | Patty Loverock | Canada | 11.40 | |
| 8 | Linda Haglund | Sweden | 11.41 | |

### Final

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Annegret Richter | West Germany | 11.08 |
| | Renate Stecher | East Germany | 11.13 |
| | Inge Helten | West Germany | 11.17 |
| 4 | Raelene Boyle | Australia | 11.23 |
| 5 | Evelyn Ashford | United States | 11.24 |
| 6 | Chandra Cheeseborough | United States | 11.31 |
| 7 | Andrea Lynch | Great Britain | 11.32 |
| 8 | Marlies Oelsner | East Germany | 11.34 |