Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres

The women's 100 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 14–15.[1]

Women's 100 metres
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
VenueEstadio Olímpico Universitario
DateOctober 14–15
Competitors42 from 22 nations
Winning time11.0 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Wyomia Tyus  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Barbara Ferrell  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Irena Szewińska  Poland
← 1964
1972 →
Official Video on YouTube

The race was won by defending champion Wyomia Tyus. She became the first person to defend the championship at 100 metres, a feat later duplicated by Carl Lewis, Gail Devers, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain Bolt and Elaine Thompson-Herah. Director Bud Greenspan filmed Tyus casually dancing behind her starting blocks before the Olympic final. When interviewed later she said she was doing the "Tighten Up" to stay loose. American commentator Dwight Stones suggests this intimidated her opponents.

In the final, American teenager Margaret Bailes gained a step advantage at the gun. That quickly disappeared as Tyus seized control of the race. The chase was on. The next chasers appeared to be her American teammate Barbara Ferrell and Australian teenager Raelene Boyle. Coming on strong toward the finish was Polish veteran Irena Kirszenstein. Tyus dipped at the finish, but there was nobody near her. Ferrell and Boyle were escorted to the holding area, but Officials reading the new fully automatic time system corrected the results to declare Kirszenstein the bronze medalist. Tyus set the world record while Boyle set the List of world junior record in fourth place.

Tyus was credited with 11.0 hand timed, breaking the tie at 11.1 with several women in this race. Two years later, Chi Cheng, 7th place in this race, equalled her time. Her automatic time of 11.07 was the first noted automatic time record of this event. In the subsequent Olympics, that time was equalled by Renate Stecher, but Tyus' time was downgraded to 11.08. By the time fully automatic timing became mandatory, January 1, 1977, Annegret Richter's 11.01 from the 1976 Olympics had displaced them.

Competition format

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The women's 100m competition consisted of heats (Round 1), quarterfinals, semifinals and a Final. The five fastest competitors from each race in the heats qualified for the quarterfinals. The four fastest runners from each of the quarterfinal races advanced to the semifinals, where again the top four from each race advance to the final.

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:

World record   Irena Szewińska (POL) 11.1 Prague, Czechoslovakia July 9, 1965
Olympic record   Wyomia Tyus (USA) 11.2 Tokyo, Japan October 15, 1964

Results

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Heats

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Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Wyomia Tyus   United States 11.2 Q
2 Val Peat   Great Britain 11.5 Q
3 Violetta Quesada   Cuba 11.6 Q
4 Marijana Lubej   Yugoslavia 11.6 Q
5 Debbie Miller   Canada 11.7 Q
6 Sylviane Telliez   France 12.0
7 Esperanza Girón   Mexico 12.2

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Margaret Bailes   United States 11.2 Q
2 Irene Piotrowski   Canada 11.3 Q
3 Miguelina Cobián   Cuba 11.4 Q
4 Pam Kilborn   Australia 11.6 Q
5 Gabrielle Meyer   France 11.6 Q
6 Alicia Kaufmanas   Argentina 11.8
7 Carmen Smith   Jamaica 11.9

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Dianne Bowering-Burge   Australia 11.5 Q
2 Fulgencia Romay   Cuba 11.5 Q
3 Lyudmila Samotyosova   Soviet Union 11.5 Q
4 Anita Neil   Great Britain 11.6 Q
5 Oyeronke Akindele   Nigeria 11.6 Q
6 Vilma Charlton   Jamaica 11.7
7 Ulla-Britt Wieslander   Sweden 11.8

Heat 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Irena Szewińska   Poland 11.3 Q
2 Raelene Boyle   Australia 11.4 Q
3 Chi Cheng   Taiwan 11.4 Q
4 Della James   Great Britain 11.7 Q
5 Karin Reichert-Frisch   West Germany 11.9 Q
6 Mária Kiss   Hungary 12.0
Lydia Stephens   Kenya DNF

Heat 5

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Eva Glesková   Czechoslovakia 11.6 Q
2 Renate Meyer   West Germany 11.7 Q
3 Lyudmila Golomazova   Soviet Union 11.7 Q
4 Truus Hennipman   Netherlands 11.7 Q
5 Stephanie Berto   Canada 11.8 Q
6 Margit Nemesházi   Hungary 11.9
7 Josefa Vicent   Uruguay 12.5

Heat 6

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Barbara Ferrell   United States 11.2 Q
2 Lyudmila Maslakova   Soviet Union 11.5 Q
3 Wilma van Gool-van den Berg   Netherlands 11.5 Q
4 Olajumoke Bodunrin   Nigeria 11.6 Q
5 Györgyi Balogh   Hungary 11.8 Q
6 Halina Górecka   West Germany 11.8
7 Cecilia Sosa   El Salvador 13.7

Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Barbara Ferrell   United States 11.1 Q
2 Eva Glesková   Czechoslovakia 11.2 Q
3 Della James   Great Britain 11.3 Q
4 Miguelina Cobián   Cuba 11.4 Q
5 Lyudmila Maslakova   Soviet Union 11.4
6 Pam Kilborn   Australia 11.4
7 Truus Hennipman   Netherlands 11.5
8 Karin Reichert-Frisch   West Germany 11.6

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Wyomia Tyus   United States 11.0 Q
2 Chi Cheng   Taiwan 11.3 Q
3 Wilma van Gool-van den Berg   Netherlands 11.4 Q
4 Lyudmila Golomazova   Soviet Union 11.5 Q
5 Marijana Lubej   Yugoslavia 11.6
6 Anita Neil   Great Britain 11.6
7 Debbie Miller   Canada 11.6

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Raelene Boyle   Australia 11.2 Q, OR
2 Margaret Bailes   United States 11.3 Q
3 Val Peat   Great Britain 11.3 Q
4 Lyudmila Samotyosova   Soviet Union 11.4 Q
5 Violetta Quesada   Cuba 11.6
6 Renate Meyer   West Germany 11.6
7 Oyeronke Akindele   Nigeria 11.7

Quarterfinal 4

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Irena Szewińska   Poland 11.1 Q
2 Dianne Bowering-Burge   Australia 11.3 Q
3 Irene Piotrowski   Canada 11.3 Q
4 Fulgencia Romay   Cuba 11.4 Q
5 Gabrielle Meyer   France 11.6
6 Györgyi Balogh   Hungary 11.7

Semi-finals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Irena Szewińska   Poland 11.3 Q
2 Barbara Ferrell   United States 11.3 Q
3 Dianne Bowering-Burge   Australia 11.4 Q
4 Chi Cheng   Taiwan 11.4 Q
5 Fulgencia Romay   Cuba 11.5
6 Irene Piotrowski   Canada 11.5
7 Della James   Great Britain 11.6
8 Lyudmila Golomazova   Soviet Union 11.7

Semifinal 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Wyomia Tyus   United States 11.3 Q
2 Raelene Boyle   Australia 11.4 Q
3 Margaret Bailes   United States 11.5 Q
4 Miguelina Cobián   Cuba 11.6 Q
5 Lyudmila Samotyosova   Soviet Union 11.6
6 Eva Glesková   Czechoslovakia 11.7
7 Wilma van Gool-van den Berg   Netherlands 11.8
8 Val Peat   Great Britain 11.8

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Wyomia Tyus   United States 11.0 WR
  Barbara Ferrell   United States 11.1
  Irena Szewińska   Poland 11.1
4 Raelene Boyle   Australia 11.1 WJR
5 Margaret Bailes   United States 11.3
6 Dianne Bowering-Burge   Australia 11.4
7 Chi Cheng   Taiwan 11.5
8 Miguelina Cobián   Cuba 11.6

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Women's 100 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
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