The 100 metres, or 100-metre dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, it is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 (1928 for women). The reigning 100 m Olympic champion is often named "the fastest man/woman in the world".

On an outdoor 400 metres running track, the 100 m is run on the home straight, with the start sometimes being set on an extension to make it a straight-line race. Runners begin in the starting blocks and the race begins when an official fires the starter's pistol. Sprinters typically reach top speed after somewhere between 50–60 m. Their speed then slows progressively towards the finish line.

The 10-second barrier has historically been a barometer of fast men's performances, while the best female sprinters take eleven seconds or less to complete the race. The current men's world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Jamaica's Usain Bolt while American Florence Griffith-Joyner holds the women's world record of 10.49 seconds.

The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. ( /ˈjuːseɪn/; born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and is one of only seven athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

Bolt won a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist at the time (since surpassed by Jacko Gill). In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he broke Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, OD (born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter, who specializes in the 100 m. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Fraser is the reigning Olympic champion over 100 m, clocking a time of 10.78. The 2009 World 100 m champion, she is only the second female sprinter to hold both World and Olympic 100 m titles simultaneously (after Gail Devers), and is tied with Christine Arron as the fourth fastest woman in history over 100 m. She attended the Wolmer's High School for Girls and represented her school in many athletic occasions.

Fraser, who trained for the Olympics with teammate Asafa Powell, became the first Jamaican woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 m sprint. In her first round heat, she placed first in a time of 11.35 to advance to the second round. She then improved her time to 11.06 seconds, finishing first in her heat. In the semifinals Fraser again finished in front, outsprinting Kerron Stewart and Muna Lee in 11.00 seconds.

In the final, Jamaican sprinters finished in the top three positions in the race, with a photographic tie for second place by Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. (Both women were awarded silver medals; no bronze medal was awarded.) Fraser's time of 10.78 seconds was a personal best and 0.20 seconds faster than her Jamaican teammates. Fraser's Olympic time was the second-fastest 100 m ever recorded by a Jamaican woman, a mere 0.04 seconds (1/25 of a second) shy of Merlene Ottey's 10.74 record.

Nathan Adrian (born December 7, 1988) is an American swimmer and Olympic gold medalist who currently holds the American record in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle (short course).

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Adrian swam in the heats of the 4×100 m freestyle relay and earned a gold medal when the United States won in the final. He has won a total of twelve medals in major international competition, ten gold, one silver, and one bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, and the Pan Pacific Championships.

Adrian was born in Bremerton, Washington in 1988, the son of James and Cecilia Adrian. His mother, Cecilia, is Chinese and was born and raised in Hong Kong. Cecilia is a nurse for the Bremerton school district and his father, James, is a retired nuclear engineer for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Adrian has an older sister, Donella, who swam at Arizona State, and an older brother, Justin, who swam at Washington. Adrian started swimming at the age of five because of the influence of his siblings. He is a 2006 graduate of Bremerton High School. Adrian is currently a pre-med student at the University of California, Berkeley. At Cal, Adrian is a five-time individual NCAA champion: Winning the 50-yard freestyle in 2009 and 2011 and the 100-yard freestyle in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Joanne Mary Joyner (born 23 February 1978) is an English actress who is best known for her role as Tanya Branning in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, in which she has appeared since June 2006.

Joyner trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, since arriving on EastEnders in June 2006, Joyner as Tanya Branning has been at the heart of the action in Albert Square and has had a wide scope of storylines; the episode in which the character of Tanya discovered her husband Max Branning's affair with Stacey Slater was watched by 13.9 million people. It was the highest rated television broadcast of 2007 and went on to be nominated for a BAFTA Award and Jo, the storyline and the episode were awarded at the 2008 British Soap Awards.

Before starring in EastEnders, her most noted role was as Beth Nicholls in the popular nursing drama No Angels. She had also starred as Lynda Moss, in two episodes of Doctor Who ("Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways", BBC One, June 2005). Her character also featured in a flashback in the episode Journey's End.