Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres


The men's 100 metres event was one of the events in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The competition was held on July 24, 1980, and on July 25, 1980. Sixty-five athletes from 40 nations competed. Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Allan Wells of Great Britain, that nation's first title in the men's 100 metres since 1924. Cuba took its first medal in the event since 1964, with Silvio Leonard's silver matching the nation's best result. Petar Petrov's bronze was Bulgaria's first Olympic medal in the men's 100 metres.

Background

This was the nineteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Four finalists from 1980 returned: defending gold medal winner Hasely Crawford of Trinidad and Tobago, silver medalist Don Quarrie of Jamaica, seventh-place finisher Klaus-Dieter Kurrat of East Germany, and eight-place finisher Petar Petrov of Bulgaria. The American team, including 1977 IAAF World Cup winner Steve Williams, was absent due to boycott. Other notable entrants included Silvio Leonard of Cuba, Eugen Ray of East Germany, and Allan Wells of Great Britain.
Eleven nations appeared in the event for the first time: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Guinea, Laos, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nepal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, and Syria. The United States missed this event for the first time in Olympic history. France and Great Britain made their 16th appearances in the event, tied with Canada for second-most, after the United States with 18.

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, that system applied only in the preliminary heats. With only 2 more runners than in 1976, the format was held very static—including the number of heats.
The first round consisted of 9 heats, each with 6–8 athletes. The top three runners in each heat advanced, along with the next five fastest runners overall. This made 32 quarterfinalists, who were divided into 4 heats of 8 runners. The top four runners in each quarterfinal advanced, with no "fastest loser" places. The 16 semifinalists competed in two heats of 8, with the top four in each semifinal advancing to the eight-man final.

Records

These are the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics.
World Record9.95 Jim HinesMexico City October 14, 1968
Olympic Record9.95 Jim HinesMexico City October 14, 1968

Results

Heats

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 7

Heat 7

Heat 8

Heat 9

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 2

Quarterfinal 3

Quarterfinal 4

Semifinals

Semifinal 2

Final

RankAthleteNationTime
Allan Wells10.25
Silvio Leonard10.25
Petar Petrov10.39
4Aleksandr Aksinin10.42
5Osvaldo Lara10.43
6Vladimir Muravyov10.44
7Marian Woronin10.46
8Hermann Panzo10.49