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

The women's 100 metres was an event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. There were a total number of 56 participating athletes, with two rounds (seven heats in round 1, four heats at round 2), two semifinals and a final. Although both Gail Devers of the United States and Merlene Ottey of Jamaica had clocked the same time in the final at the finish line at 10.94 seconds, snapshot of their photo finish confirmed that Devers had edged Ottey out for the gold medal.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics.
| World Record | 10.49 | Florence Griffith-Joyner | Indianapolis (USA) | July 16, 1988 |
| Olympic Record | 10.62 | Florence Griffith-Joyner | Seoul (KOR) | September 24, 1988 |

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

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Chandra Sturrup | Bahamas | 11.24 | Q |
| 2 | Hanitriniaina Rakotondrabe | Madagascar | 11.36 | Q |
| 3 | Irina Privalova | Russia | 11.42 | Q |
| 4 | Zlatka Georgieva | Bulgaria | 11.74 | Q |
| 5 | Nataliya Vorobyova | Kazakhstan | 11.91 | |
| 6 | Lyudmila Dmitriady | Uzbekistan | 12.04 | |
| 7 | Ouk Chanthan | Cambodia | 14.82 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Zhanna Pintusevich | Ukraine | 11.20 | Q |
| 2 | Melanie Paschke | Germany | 11.27 | Q |
| 3 | Odiah Sidibé | France | 11.40 | Q |
| 4 | Mary Tombiri-Shirey | Nigeria | 11.50 | Q |
| 5 | Hermin Joseph | Dominica | 11.56 | |
| 6 | Cleide Amaral | Brazil | 11.76 | |
| 7 | Myriam Mani | Cameroon | 11.76 | |
| 8 | Elvira Cabbarova | Azerbaijan | 11.96 | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Merlene Ottey | Jamaica | 11.13 | Q |
| 2 | Susanthika Jayasinghe | Sri Lanka | 11.18 | Q |
| 3 | Ekaterini Thanou | Greece | 11.35 | Q |
| 4 | Iryna Pukha | Ukraine | 11.36 | Q |
| 5 | Heather Samuel | Antigua and Barbuda | 11.44 | q |
| 6 | Yan Jiankui | China | 11.46 | |
| 7 | Mirtha Brock | Colombia | 11.83 | |
| 8 | Sortelina Pires | São Tomé and Príncipe | 13.31 | |

#### Heat 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Juliet Cuthbert | Jamaica | 11.06 | Q |
| 2 | D'Andre Hill | United States | 11.11 | Q |
| 3 | Silke Lichtenhagen | Germany | 11.30 | Q |
| 4 | Eldece Clarke | Bahamas | 11.33 | Q |
| 5 | Petya Pendareva | Bulgaria | 11.59 | |
| 6 | Cydonie Mothersill | Cayman Islands | 11.61 | |
| 7 | Michelle Baptiste | Saint Lucia | 11.92 | |
| 8 | Natalie Martindale | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 12.25 | |

#### Heat 5

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marina Trandenkova | Russia | 11.20 | Q |
| 2 | Chioma Ajunwa | Nigeria | 11.25 | Q |
| 3 | Myra Mayberry | Puerto Rico | 11.51 | Q |
| 4 | Stephi Douglas | Great Britain | 11.61 | Q |
| 5 | Zandra Borrero | Colombia | 11.62 | |
| 6 | Jerneja Perc | Slovenia | 11.63 | |
| 7 | Beverly McDonald | Jamaica | 12.08 | |
| 8 | Isménia do Frederico | Cape Verde | 13.03 | |

#### Heat 6

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gwen Torrence | United States | 11.11 | Q |
| 2 | Natalya Voronova | Russia | 11.22 | Q |
| 3 | Lucrécia Jardim | Portugal | 11.32 | Q |
| 4 | Katerina Koffa | Greece | 11.33 | Q |
| 5 | Sanna Hernesniemi | Finland | 11.39 | q |
| 6 | Marcia Richardson | Great Britain | 11.42 | q |
| 7 | Wang Huei-Chen | Chinese Taipei | 11.70 | |
| 8 | Nester Geniwala'a | Solomon Islands | 13.74 | |
| 9 | Juliana Obiong | Equatorial Guinea | 13.88 | |

#### Heat 7

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gail Devers | United States | 10.92 | Q |
| 2 | Mary Onyali | Nigeria | 11.17 | Q |
| 3 | Andrea Philipp | Germany | 11.32 | Q |
| 4 | Debbie Ferguson | Bahamas | 11.33 | Q |
| 5 | Simmone Jacobs | Great Britain | 11.39 | q |
| 6 | Mireille Donders | Switzerland | 11.67 | |
| 7 | Lee Young-sook | South Korea | 11.88 | |
| 8 | Elizabeth Chávez | Honduras | 12.10 | NR |

### Quarterfinals
#### Quarterfinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gwen Torrence | United States | 11.11 | Q |
| 2 | Marina Trandenkova | Russia | 11.15 | Q |
| 3 | Chioma Ajunwa | Nigeria | 11.24 | Q |
| 4 | Odiah Sidibé | France | 11.38 | Q |
| 5 | Katerina Koffa | Greece | 11.38 | |
| 6 | Hanitriniaina Rakotondrabe | Madagascar | 11.43 | |
| 7 | Heather Samuel | Antigua and Barbuda | 11.60 | |
| 8 | Stephi Douglas | Great Britain | 11.75 | |

#### Quarterfinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gail Devers | United States | 10.94 | Q |
| 2 | Mary Onyali | Nigeria | 11.08 | Q |
| 3 | Debbie Ferguson | Bahamas | 11.26 | Q |
| 4 | Lucrécia Jardim | Portugal | 11.37 | Q |
| 5 | Andrea Philipp | Germany | 11.38 | |
| 6 | Iryna Pukha | Ukraine | 11.42 | |
| 7 | Marcia Richardson | Great Britain | 11.55 | |
| — | Susanthika Jayasinghe | Sri Lanka | DNF | |

#### Quarterfinal 3

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Juliet Cuthbert | Jamaica | 11.20 | Q |
| 2 | Chandra Sturrup | Bahamas | 11.21 | Q |
| 3 | D'Andre Hill | United States | 11.21 | Q |
| 4 | Irina Privalova | Russia | 11.40 | Q |
| 5 | Simmone Jacobs | Great Britain | 11.47 | |
| 6 | Ekaterini Thanou | Greece | 11.48 | |
| 7 | Silke Lichtenhagen | Germany | 11.53 | |
| 8 | Mary Tombiri-Shirey | Nigeria | 11.56 | |

#### Quarterfinal 4

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Merlene Ottey | Jamaica | 11.02 | Q |
| 2 | Zhanna Pintusevich | Ukraine | 11.14 | Q |
| 3 | Natalya Voronova | Russia | 11.17 | Q |
| 4 | Melanie Paschke | Germany | 11.18 | Q |
| 5 | Eldece Clarke | Bahamas | 11.47 | |
| 6 | Sanna Hernesniemi | Finland | 11.49 | |
| 7 | Myra Mayberry | Puerto Rico | 11.66 | |
| 8 | Zlatka Georgieva | Bulgaria | 11.99 | |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Merlene Ottey | Jamaica | 10.93 | Q |
| 2 | Gwen Torrence | United States | 10.97 | Q |
| 3 | Marina Trandenkova | Russia | 11.07 | Q |
| 4 | Zhanna Pintusevich | Ukraine | 11.14 | Q |
| 5 | Chioma Ajunwa | Nigeria | 11.14 | |
| 6 | D'Andre Hill | United States | 11.20 | |
| 7 | Debbie Ferguson | Bahamas | 11.28 | |
| 8 | Odiah Sidibé | France | 11.35 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gail Devers | United States | 11.00 | Q |
| 2 | Mary Onyali | Nigeria | 11.04 | Q |
| 3 | Natalya Voronova | Russia | 11.07 | Q |
| 4 | Chandra Sturrup | Bahamas | 11.07 | Q |
| 5 | Juliet Cuthbert | Jamaica | 11.07 | |
| 6 | Melanie Paschke | Germany | 11.14 | |
| 7 | Irina Privalova | Russia | 11.31 | |
| 8 | Lucrécia Jardim | Portugal | 11.32 | |

## Final

* Held on July 27, 1996
| Rank | Lane | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | 6 | Gail Devers | United States | 10.94 |
| | 3 | Merlene Ottey | Jamaica | 10.94 |
| | 5 | Gwen Torrence | United States | 10.96 |
| 4 | 7 | Chandra Sturrup | Bahamas | 11.00 |
| 5 | 1 | Marina Trandenkova | Russia | 11.06 |
| 6 | 2 | Natalya Voronova | Russia | 11.10 |
| 7 | 4 | Mary Onyali | Nigeria | 11.13 |
| 8 | 8 | Zhanna Pintusevich | Ukraine | 11.14 |