# Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

These are the official results of the men's 100 metres event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There were a total number of 106 participating athletes from 75 nations, with twelve heats in round 1, five quarterfinals, two semifinals and a final. Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Donovan Bailey of Canada, the nation's first title in the event since Percy Williams won it in 1928.

## Summary

Canada's Donovan Bailey won the gold medal, breaking the world record that Leroy Burrell of the United States had set in 1994. Namibia's Frankie Fredericks won the silver medal for a second consecutive Olympics, while Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Ato Boldon won the bronze. It was Trinidad and Tobago's first medal in the event since Hasely Crawford's win in 1976. For Fredericks and Boldon, this was the first of two events where they both medaled behind a world record setting run; Fredericks took silver and Boldon bronze in the 200 metre event where Michael Johnson ran 19.32 to win.
At first Bailey who was going to be the eventual winner did not get a great start. Mitchell and Boldon got terrific starts. Boldon led the race till the 60 metre mark, the point where Canadian Donovan Bailey was gaining on the field. He had an unbelievable surge with a top end speed of over 12 m/s, world record at that time. He won the race with a new 100 metres men's world record time of 9.84 which was 100th of a second faster than the previous record. Fredericks of Namibia edged past Boldon of Trinidad to take silver. Linford Christie, the defending Olympic Champion, was watching the entire event unfold from the point of view of a spectator, having been disqualified after two false starts, the second of which was controversial.
This marked the first time since 1976 (and the boycotted 1980 Games) that no American runner medaled in the 100 metres, with 1992 bronze medalist Dennis Mitchell placing fourth behind Boldon. Counting 1980, it was only the fourth time that the United States missed the podium.

## Background

This was the twenty-third time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. For the first time, all three medalists from the previous Games (Great Britain's Linford Christie, Namibia's Frankie Fredericks, and the United States's Dennis Mitchell) returned. Indeed, seven of the eight finalists from 1992 were back in 1996—the other returners were Canadian Bruny Surin, Nigerians Olapade Adeniken and Davidson Ezinwa, and Jamaican Raymond Stewart; only Leroy Burrell did not return to the 100 metres in 1996. Donovan Bailey of Canada had won the 1995 world championships, followed by countryman Surin and then Trinidad and Tobago's Ato Boldon. Christie was the reigning Commonwealth and European champion, and had won the 1993 world championship.
Azerbaijan, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, São Tomé and Príncipe, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan appeared in the event for the first time. Russia appeared independently for the first time since 1912 and Latvia did so for the first time since 1924. The United States made its 22nd 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 both the heats and quarterfinals.
The first round consisted of 12 heats, each with 9 athletes scheduled (2 heats had 8 actually run due to withdrawals). The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next four fastest runners overall. This made 40 quarterfinalists, who were divided into 5 heats of 8 runners. The top three runners in each quarterfinal advanced, with one "fastest loser" place. 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 1996 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 9.85 | Leroy Burrell | Lausanne (SUI) | July 6, 1994 |
| Olympic Record | 9.92 | Carl Lewis | Seoul (KOR) | September 24, 1988 |
Donovan Bailey's 9.84 seconds in the final broke both the world and Olympic records.

## Schedule

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Friday, 26 July 1996 | 11:00 18:30 | Heats Quarterfinals |
| Saturday, 27 July 1996 | 19:30 21:00 | Semifinals Final |

## Results
### Round 1
#### Heat 1

Wells had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Reaction | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 0.187 | 10.15 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 0.168 | 10.18 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Andrey Fedoriv | Russia | 0.159 | 10.39 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Renward Wells | Bahamas | 0.156 | 10.48 | |
| 5 | 3 | Chithaka De Soyza | Sri Lanka | 0.173 | 10.55 | |
| 6 | 7 | Luís Cunha | Portugal | 0.149 | 10.65 | |
| 7 | 9 | Patrick Mocci Roumbe | Gabon | 0.185 | 10.87 | |
| 8 | 8 | Nordine Ould Menira | Mauritania | 0.186 | 10.95 | |
| 9 | 4 | Bonifacio Edu | Equatorial Guinea | 0.198 | 11.87 | |
| | | | | Wind: −0.9 m/s | Wind: −0.9 m/s | Wind: −0.9 m/s |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.03 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Jon Drummond | United States | 10.08 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | Erik Wymeersch | Belgium | 10.24 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Leon Gordon | Jamaica | 10.48 | |
| 5 | 6 | Stefan Burkart | Switzerland | 10.49 | |
| 6 | 7 | Barnabe Jolicoeur | Mauritius | 10.57 | |
| 7 | 4 | Bimal Tarafdar | Bangladesh | 10.98 | |
| 8 | 3 | Abdul Ghafoor | Afghanistan | 12.20 | |
| – | 8 | Andrew Tynes | Bahamas | DNS | |

#### Heat 3

Markoullides had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 10.06 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Anninos Markoullides | Cyprus | 10.26 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Kim Collins | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 10.27 | Q |
| 4 | 8 | Augustine Nketia | New Zealand | 10.34 | q |
| 5 | 4 | Raymond Stewart | Jamaica | 10.38 | q |
| 6 | 9 | Stefano Tilli | Italy | 10.38 | |
| 7 | 6 | Jamal Al-Saffar | Saudi Arabia | 10.44 | |
| 8 | 3 | Amarildo Almeida | Guinea-Bissau | 10.85 | |
| 9 | 1 | Mohamed Bakar | Comoros | 11.02 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Michael Green | Jamaica | 10.16 | Q |
| 2 | 9 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 10.21 | Q |
| 3 | 8 | Serhiy Osovych | Ukraine | 10.29 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Ezio Madonia | Italy | 10.33 | q |
| 5 | 2 | Edson Ribeiro | Brazil | 10.39 | |
| 6 | 3 | Chris Donaldson | New Zealand | 10.39 | |
| 7 | 5 | Patrik Strenius | Sweden | 10.48 | |
| 8 | 4 | Toluta'u Koula | Tonga | 10.71 | |
| 9 | 6 | Vladislav Chernobay | Kyrgyzstan | 10.88 | |

#### Heat 5

Borrega had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Deji Aliu | Nigeria | 10.34 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Ousmane Diarra | Mali | 10.34 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Wenzhong Chen | China | 10.37 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Manuel Borrega | Spain | 10.52 | |
| 5 | 7 | Hiroyasu Tsuchie | Japan | 10.58 | |
| 6 | 9 | Ruben Benitez | El Salvador | 10.74 | |
| 7 | 1 | Vitaly Medvedev | Kazakhstan | 10.90 | |
| 8 | 4 | Mitchell Peters | Virgin Islands | 11.12 | |
| 9 | 5 | Bouriema Kimba | Niger | 11.24 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.24 | Q |
| 2 | 7 | Ian Mackie | Great Britain | 10.27 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Marc Blume | Germany | 10.33 | Q |
| 4 | 9 | Alexandros Terzian | Greece | 10.48 | |
| 5 | 1 | Franck Amegnigan | Togo | 10.51 | |
| 6 | 6 | Rod Mapstone | Australia | 10.56 | |
| 7 | 8 | Sayon Cooper | Liberia | 10.58 | |
| 8 | 2 | Pa Modou Gai | The Gambia | 10.72 | |
| 9 | 5 | Jorge Castellon | Bolivia | 10.74 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 10.33 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Kostyantyn Rurak | Ukraine | 10.37 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | Pascal Theophile | France | 10.41 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Carlos Gats | Argentina | 10.57 | |
| 5 | 3 | Joel Mascoll | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 10.64 | |
| 6 | 6 | Anvar Kuchmuradov | Uzbekistan | 10.71 | |
| 7 | 4 | Arif Akhundov | Azerbaijan | 11.11 | |
| 8 | 8 | Khaled Othman | Libya | 11.65 | |
| 9 | 7 | Jean-Olivier Zirignon | Ivory Coast | 22.69 | |

#### Heat 8

Silva had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 7 | Michael Marsh | United States | 10.14 | Q |
| 2 | 8 | Darren Braithwaite | Great Britain | 10.29 | Q |
| 3 | 9 | Kirk Cummins | Barbados | 10.47 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Torbjörn Eriksson | Sweden | 10.49 | |
| 5 | 6 | Paul Henderson | Australia | 10.52 | |
| 6 | 3 | Alberto Mendez | Dominican Republic | 10.60 | |
| 7 | 2 | Arnaldo da Silva | Brazil | 10.62 | |
| 8 | 1 | Mario Bonello | Malta | 10.89 | |
| 9 | 4 | Odair Baia | São Tomé and Príncipe | 11.05 | |

#### Heat 9

Douhou had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 8 | André da Silva | Brazil | 10.25 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 10.26 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Yiannis Zisimides | Cyprus | 10.32 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Venancio Jose | Spain | 10.34 | q |
| 5 | 9 | Hamed Douhou | Ivory Coast | 10.53 | |
| 6 | 7 | Robert Dennis | Liberia | 10.65 | |
| 7 | 2 | Donald Onchiri | Kenya | 10.66 | |
| 8 | 3 | Sun-Kuk Jin | South Korea | 10.73 | |
| 9 | 4 | Peter Pulu | Papua New Guinea | 10.76 | |

#### Heat 10

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Eric Nkansah | Ghana | 10.26 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Needy Guims | France | 10.39 | Q |
| 3 | 1 | Olapade Adeniken | Nigeria | 10.41 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | Jone Delai | Fiji | 10.42 | |
| 5 | 8 | Vitaliy Savin | Kazakhstan | 10.52 | |
| 6 | 9 | Watson Nyambek | Malaysia | 10.55 | |
| 7 | 6 | Neil Ryan | Ireland | 10.78 | |
| 8 | 3 | Javier Verne | Peru | 10.91 | |
| 9 | 4 | Van Lam Hai | Vietnam | 11.14 | |

#### Heat 11

Karlsson had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Donovan Bailey | Canada | 10.24 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Nobuharu Asahara | Japan | 10.28 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Peter Karlsson | Sweden | 10.35 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Sanusi Turay | Sierra Leone | 10.39 | |
| 5 | 9 | Sergejs Insakovs | Latvia | 10.42 | |
| 6 | 8 | Haralambos Papadias | Greece | 10.46 | |
| 7 | 7 | Hsin-Ping Huang | Chinese Taipei | 10.70 | |
| 8 | 4 | Eric Agueh | Benin | 10.98 | |
| – | 5 | Alfayaya Embalo | Cape Verde | DNS | |

#### Heat 12

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Frank Fredericks | Namibia | 10.32 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | Glenroy Gilbert | Canada | 10.34 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Alexandros Yenovelis | Greece | 10.39 | Q |
| 4 | 6 | Frutos Feo | Spain | 10.56 | |
| 5 | 8 | Benjamin Sirimou | Cameroon | 10.58 | |
| 6 | 7 | Hamed Sadeq | Kuwait | 10.81 | |
| 7 | 9 | Devon Bean | Bermuda | 10.89 | |
| 8 | 5 | Robert Loua | Guinea | 11.21 | |
| 9 | 2 | Mark Sherwin | Cook Islands | 11.41 | |

### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 9.95 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Nobuharu Asahara | Japan | 10.19 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Eric Nkansah | Ghana | 10.24 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Deji Aliu | Nigeria | 10.26 | |
| 5 | 7 | Glenroy Gilbert | Canada | 10.28 | |
| 6 | 8 | Marc Blume | Germany | 10.33 | |
| 7 | 1 | Andrey Fedoriv | Russia | 10.34 | |
| 8 | 2 | Augustine Nketia | New Zealand | 10.35 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 10.03 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Donovan Bailey | Canada | 10.05 | Q |
| 3 | 3 | Jon Drummond | United States | 10.17 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 10.18 | q |
| 5 | 2 | Erik Wymeersch | Belgium | 10.37 | |
| 6 | 7 | Olapade Adeniken | Nigeria | 10.38 | |
| 7 | 8 | Needy Guims | France | 10.43 | |
| 8 | 1 | Ezio Madonia | Italy | 10.43 | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Frank Fredericks | Namibia | 9.93 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.08 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 10.14 | Q |
| 4 | 8 | Raymond Stewart | Jamaica | 10.18 | |
| 5 | 7 | Peter Karlsson | Sweden | 10.24 | |
| 6 | 6 | Darren Braithwaite | Great Britain | 10.27 | |
| 7 | 2 | Wenzhong Chen | China | 10.29 | |
| 8 | 1 | Ousmane Diarra | Mali | 10.38 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.09 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Michael Green | Jamaica | 10.11 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Anninos Markoullides | Cyprus | 10.23 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Patrick Stevens | Belgium | 10.31 | |
| 5 | 2 | Kim Collins | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 10.34 | |
| 6 | 1 | Pascal Theophile | France | 10.38 | |
| 7 | 7 | Serhiy Osovych | Ukraine | 10.38 | |
| 8 | 8 | Kirk Cummins | Barbados | 10.45 | |

#### Quarterfinal 5

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Michael Marsh | United States | 10.04 | Q |
| 2 | 4 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 10.13 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | Ian Mackie | Great Britain | 10.25 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | André da Silva | Brazil | 10.26 | |
| 5 | 2 | Alexandros Yenovelis | Greece | 10.31 | |
| 6 | 1 | Venancio Jose | Spain | 10.46 | |
| 7 | 7 | Kostyantyn Rurak | Ukraine | 10.47 | |
| 8 | 8 | Yiannis Zisimides | Cyprus | 10.47 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

Bailey had one false start (a second would have resulted in disqualification).
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 5 | Frank Fredericks | Namibia | 9.94 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Donovan Bailey | Canada | 10.00 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Michael Marsh | United States | 10.08 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Michael Green | Jamaica | 10.11 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Nobuharu Asahara | Japan | 10.16 | |
| 6 | 8 | Obadele Thompson | Barbados | 10.16 | |
| 7 | 2 | Emmanuel Tuffour | Ghana | 10.22 | |
| 8 | 7 | Anninos Markoullides | Cyprus | 10.36 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 3 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 9.93 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 10.00 | Q |
| 3 | 6 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | 10.04 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.04 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Bruny Surin | Canada | 10.13 | |
| 6 | 2 | Jon Drummond | United States | 10.16 | |
| 7 | 8 | Eric Nkansah | Ghana | 10.26 | |
| – | 7 | Ian Mackie | Great Britain | DNS | |

### Final

The final was held on July 27, 1996. Christie was disqualified after two false starts. Boldon also had one false start.
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Donovan Bailey | Canada | 9.84 | WR |
| | 5 | Frank Fredericks | Namibia | 9.89 | |
| | 3 | Ato Boldon | Trinidad and Tobago | 9.90 | |
| 4 | 4 | Dennis Mitchell | United States | 9.99 | |
| 5 | 1 | Michael Marsh | United States | 10.00 | |
| 6 | 7 | Davidson Ezinwa | Nigeria | 10.14 | |
| 7 | 8 | Michael Green | Jamaica | 10.16 | |
| — | 2 | Linford Christie | Great Britain | DQ | |