100 metres

The 100 metres, or 100-meter 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 for men and since 1928 for women.

The reigning 100 m Olympic champion is often named "the fastest man in the world." The World Championships 100 metres has been contested since 1983. Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are the reigning world and Olympic champions in the men's and women's 100 metres, respectively.

On an outdoor 400 metres running track, the 100 m is run on the home straight, with the start usually 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 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 in 2009, while the women's world record of 10.49 seconds set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 remains unbroken.

Usain Bolt

Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, CD (/ˈjuːseɪn/; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter. Regarded as the fastest person ever timed, he is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time measurements became mandatory in 1977. Along with his teammates, he also set the world record in the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and the first man since Leonidas of Rhodes to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting, and an eleven-time World champion. He was the first to achieve the "double double" of winning 100 m and 200 m titles at consecutive Olympics (2008 and 2012), and topped this through the first "double triple" (including 4×100 m relays).

Although gaining worldwide popularity for a sprint double victory at the Beijing Games, Bolt has had more victories as a 200 m runner. While he had not won any significant 100 m title prior to the 2008 Olympics, he had won numerous crowns in the 200 m event at the youth, junior and senior levels. Further, at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Bolt completed a hat-trick of 200 m world titles by winning his third straight gold in the event. His 2009 record breaking margin for 100 m, from 9.69 seconds (his own previous world record) to 9.58, is the highest since the start of fully automatic time measurements.

Track and field

Track and field is a sport which combines various athletic contests based on the skills of running, jumping, and throwing. The name is derived from the sport's typical venue: a stadium with an oval running track enclosing a grass field where the throwing and jumping events take place. It is one of the oldest sports. In ancient times, it was an event held in conjunction with festivals and sports meets such as the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece.

The running events, which include sprints, middle and long-distance events, and hurdling, are won by the athlete with the fastest time. The jumping and throwing events are won by the athlete who achieves the greatest distance or height. Regular jumping events include long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault, while the most common throwing events are shot put, javelin, discus and hammer. There are also "combined events", such as heptathlon and decathlon, in which athletes compete in a number of the above events. Most track and field events are individual sports with a single victor, but a number are relay races. Events are almost exclusively divided by gender, although both the men's and women's competitions are usually held at the same venue.