Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

The men's 100 metres was the shortest of the men's track races in the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo, Japan. It was held at the Olympic Stadium on 14 and 15 October 1964. 76 athletes from 49 nations entered, with three not starting in the first round. Nations were limited to three athletes each, per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The first two rounds were held on Wednesday, 14 October, with the semifinals and final on the following day.

Men's 100 metres at the Games of the XVIII Olympiad
Venue	Olympic Stadium Tokyo, Japan
Dates	14 October 1964 (heats, quarterfinals) 15 October 1964 (semifinals, finals)
Competitors	73 from 49 nations
Winning time	10.0 seconds
Medalists
Bob Hayes  United States Enrique Figuerola  Cuba Harry Jerome  Canada

Official Video Highlights

In the final, American Bob Hayes tied the world record of 10.0 seconds and won the gold medal. Enrique Figuerola of Cuba and Harry Jerome of Canada tied the previous Olympic record time (10.2 seconds). It was Cuba's first medal in the event; Canada earned its first men's 100 metres medal since 1928.

Background

This was the fifteenth time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896. Neither of the top two runners from 1960 returned, but Rome bronze medalist Brit Peter Radford and fourth-place finisher Cuban Enrique Figuerola did. Other notable entrants were American Bob Hayes (the favorite who was unbeaten in the event, including the 100 yards variant, since 1962) and Canadian Harry Jerome (a 1960 semifinalist who held a share of the world record). A muscle strain prevented Venezuelan Horacio Esteves (another 1960 semifinalist with a share of the world record) from competing.

Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Iran, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Northern Rhodesia, Rhodesia, Senegal, and Vietnam were represented in the event for the first time. The new federation of Malaysia also competed for the first time, though both Malaya and Singapore had previously appeared. The United States was the only nation to have appeared at each of the first fifteen Olympic men's 100 metres events.

Competition format

The event retained the same basic four round format from 1920–1960: heats, quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. However, after an extremely static format from 1936 to 1956, the format was modified for a second time in 1964 after 1960's tweaks. The changes generally increased the number of athletes in each race; for the first time in Olympic men's 100 metres history, 8 runners competed at a time.

		1936–56	1960	1964
Heats	Number of heats	12	9	10
	Athletes per heat	Up to 7	6–7	7–8
	Qualifiers per heat	2	3	3
Quarterfinals	Number of heats	4	4	4
	Athletes per heat	6	6–7	7–8
	Qualifiers per heat	3	3	4
Semifinals	Number of heats	2	2	2
	Athletes per heat	6	6	8
	Qualifiers per heat	3	3	4
Finals	Number of heats	1	1	1
	Athletes per heat	6	6	8

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	10.0	Armin Hary	Zürich, Switzerland	21 June 1960
	10.0	Harry Jerome	Saskatoon, Canada	15 July 1960
	10.0	Horacio Esteves	Caracas, Venezuela	15 August 1964
Olympic record	10.2	Armin Hary	Rome, Italy	31 August 1960
	10.3	Armin Hary	Rome, Italy	31 August 1960
	10.3	Dave Sime	Rome, Italy	31 August 1960

Bob Hayes had an official time of 10.0 seconds in the final, breaking the Olympic record by 0.2 seconds and matching the world record. His official time of 9.9 seconds in the semifinals did not count for records purposes because of wind assistance.

Results

First round

The top three runners in each of the 10 heats advanced. The Official Report describes the weather for these heats as 'rainy'. The wind varied widely, between a 2.85 m/s headwind (in heat 3) and a 1.60 m/s tailwind (in heat 6).

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Hideo Iijima	Japan	10.3	Q
2	Bernard Laidebeur	France	10.5	Q
3	Edvin Ozolin	Soviet Union	10.5	Q
4	Kenneth Powell	India	10.7
5	Zbigniew Syka	Poland	10.7
6	Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa	Madagascar	10.8
7	Sara Camara	Mali	11.3

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Trenton Jackson	United States	10.5	Q
2	Peter Radford	Great Britain	10.6	Q
3	B. El Maachi Bouchaib	Morocco	10.6	Q
4	Csaba Csutorás	Hungary	10.7
5	Johan Du Preez	Rhodesia	10.7
6	Jeong Gi-seon	South Korea	11.0
7	Arnulfo Valles	Philippines	11.1

Wind, -2.51 m/s

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Gaoussou Koné	Ivory Coast	10.5	Q
2	Mel Pender	United States	10.5	Q
3	Michael Ahey	Ghana	10.6	Q
4	Franciscus Luitjes	Netherlands	10.6
5	Wilton Jackson	Trinidad and Tobago	10.6
6	Lynn Davies	Great Britain	10.7
7	Gerardo di Tolla	Peru	10.9
8	Lee Ar-tu	Taiwan	11.2

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Marian Dudziak	Poland	10.6	Q
2	Stanley Fabian Allotey	Ghana	10.6	Q
3	John Owiti	Kenya	10.6	Q
4	Carlos Lorenzo	Mexico	10.7
5	George Collie	Bahamas	10.9
6	Masaru Kamata	Japan	10.9
7	Ho Thành Chinh	Vietnam	11.9
—	Nikolay Politiko	Soviet Union	DNS

Heat 5

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Harry Jerome	Canada	10.5	Q
2	Claude Piquemal	France	10.5	Q
3	Lloyd Murad	Venezuela	10.8	Q
4	James Odongo	Uganda	10.9
5	Gusman Kosanov	Soviet Union	10.9
6	Abdoulaye N'Diaye	Senegal	11.0
7	Levy Psawkin	Israel	11.1

Heat 6

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Heinz Schumann	United Team of Germany	10.5	Q
2	Dennis O. Johnson	Jamaica	10.6	Q
3	William Earle	Australia	10.7	Q
4	Serafino Antao	Kenya	10.7
5	Huba Rozsnyai	Hungary	10.8
6	Alf Meakin	Great Britain	10.8
7	David Njitock	Cameroon	11.1
8	Akbar Babakhanloo	Iran	11.1

Heat 7

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Wiesław Maniak	Poland	10.5	Q
2	Arquímedes Herrera	Venezuela	10.5	Q
3	Mani Jegathesan	Malaysia	10.6	Q
4	José de Rocha	Portugal	11.0
5	Bassirou Doumbia	Senegal	11.0
6	Francisco Gutiérrez	Colombia	11.0
7	Iftikhar Shah	Pakistan	11.4

Heat 8

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bob Hayes	United States	10.4	Q
2	Tom Robinson	Bahamas	10.5	Q
3	Bob Lay	Australia	10.5	Q
4	Ito Jiani	Italy	10.6
5	Rogelio Onofre	Philippines	10.7
6	Khudher Zalada	Iraq	11.1
—	David Ejoke	Nigeria	DNS

Heat 9

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Fritz Obersiebrasse	United Team of Germany	10.4	Q
2	Iván Moreno	Chile	10.5	Q
3	Pablo McNeil	Jamaica	10.5	Q
4	László Mihályfi	Hungary	10.6
5	Gary Holdsworth	Australia	10.6
6	Max Barandun	Switzerland	10.7
7	Jeffery Smith	Northern Rhodesia	10.8
–	Wesley Johnson	Liberia	DNF

Heat 10

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Enrique Figuerola	Cuba	10.5	Q
2	Lynn Headley	Jamaica	10.5	Q
3	Roger Bambuck	France	10.6	Q
4	Manfred Knickenberg	United Team of Germany	10.7
5	Léon Yombe	Republic of the Congo	10.8
6	Alberto Torres	Dominican Republic	10.9
7	Suthi Manyakass	Thailand	10.9
8	Rogelio Rivas	Spain	11.1

Quarterfinals

The top four runners in each of the four second round heats advanced to the semifinals. The weather was cloudy and winds were tailwinds throughout.

Quarterfinal 1

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Harry Jerome	Canada	10.3	Q
2	Trenton Jackson	United States	10.4	Q
3	Fritz Obersiebrasse	United Team of Germany	10.4	Q
4	Gaoussou Koné	Ivory Coast	10.4	Q
5	Dennis O. Johnson	Jamaica	10.5
6	Marian Dudziak	Poland	10.5
7	Bernard Laidebeur	France	10.5
8	William Joseph Earle	Australia	10.9

Wind, +1.90 m/s

Quarterfinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Enrique Figuerola	Cuba	10.3	Q
2	Wiesław Maniak	Poland	10.3	Q
3	Bob Lay	Australia	10.4	Q
4	Claude Piquemal	France	10.4	Q
5	Edvin Ozolin	Soviet Union	10.4
6	B. El Maachi Bouchaib	Morocco	10.5
7	John Owiti	Kenya	10.6

Quarterfinal 3

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Tom Robinson	Bahamas	10.3	Q
2	Mel Pender	United States	10.4	Q
3	Iijima Hideo	Japan	10.5	Q
4	Pablo McNeil	Jamaica	10.5	Q
5	Mani Jegathesan	Malaysia	10.6
6	Ivan Moreno	Chile	10.6
7	Stanley Fabian Allotey	Ghana	10.7
8	Lloyd Murad	Venezuela	10.7

Quarterfinal 4

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bob Hayes	United States	10.3	Q
2	Arquimedes Herrera	Venezuela	10.4	Q
3	Lynn Headley	Jamaica	10.4	Q
4	Heinz Schumann	United Team of Germany	10.5	Q
5	Peter Radford	Great Britain	10.5
6	Roger Bambuck	France	10.5
7	Michael Ahey	Ghana	10.6

Semifinals

The top four runners in each of the two semifinals advanced to the final. The weather was described as "fine," with lower humidity than the first two rounds and a temperature of 23.8 degrees Celsius. There was a strong tailwind for the first semifinal and a moderate headwind for the second.

Semifinal 1

The tailwind speed of 5.28 m/s meant this semifinal was ineligible for record purposes.

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Bob Hayes	United States	9.9	Q
2	Wiesław Maniak	Poland	10.1	Q
3	Tom Robinson	Bahamas	10.2	Q
4	Heinz Schumann	United Team of Germany	10.3	Q
5	Robert William Lay	Australia	10.3
6	Pablo McNeil	Jamaica	10.3
7	Arquimedes Herrera	Venezuela	10.4
8	Trenton Jackson	United States	10.6

Semifinal 2

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Harry Jerome	Canada	10.3	Q
2	Gaoussou Koné	Ivory Coast	10.4	Q
3	Enrique Figuerola	Cuba	10.4	Q
4	Mel Pender	United States	10.4	Q
5	Claude Piquemal	France	10.5
6	Lynn Headley	Jamaica	10.5
7	Iijima Hideo	Japan	10.6
8	Fritz Obersiebrasse	United Team of Germany	10.6

Final

Until the Tokyo Olympics world records were measured by officials with stopwatches, measured to the nearest tenth of a second. Although fully automatic timing was used in Tokyo, the times were given the appearance of manual timing. This was done by subtracting 0.05 seconds from the automatic time and rounding to the nearest tenth of a second, making Hayes' time of 10.06 seconds convert to 10.0 seconds (a new Olympic record and matching the existing world record), despite the fact that the officials with stopwatches had measured Hayes' time to be 9.9 seconds, and the average difference between manual and automatic times was typically 0.15 to 0.20 seconds. This unique method of determining the official time therefore denied Hayes the record of being the first to officially record 9.9 seconds for the 100 meters. The first official times of 9.9 seconds were recorded at the "Night of Speed" in 1968.

The final was run in "fine" weather, with a tailwind of just over a metre per second. Hayes ran on lane one, which had been damaged by competitors in the men's 10,000 metres and the men's 20 km walk. Nevertheless, his "margin of victory was described by Track & Field News as 'insulting to an Olympic final field.'"

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time	Notes
	Bob Hayes	United States	10.0	=WR
	Enrique Figuerola	Cuba	10.2
	Harry Jerome	Canada	10.2
4	Wiesław Maniak	Poland	10.4
5	Heinz Schumann	United Team of Germany	10.4
6	Gaoussou Koné	Ivory Coast	10.4
	Mel Pender	United States	10.4
8	Tom Robinson	Bahamas	10.5

• Wind speed= +1.1 m/s (2.5 mph)

The 100 m final. Left-right: Tom Robinson, Wiesław Maniak, Harry Jerome, Gaoussou Koné, Enrique Figuerola, Heinz Schumann, Bob Hayes

References

• Official Report