Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres
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Men's 100 metres at the Games of the XXX Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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Venue | Olympic Stadium | ||||||||||||
Date | 4–5 August 2012 | ||||||||||||
Competitors | 74 from 61 nations | ||||||||||||
Winning time | 9.63 s OR | ||||||||||||
Medalists | |||||||||||||
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The men's 100 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom was held at the Olympic Stadium on 4–5 August 2012.[1] Seventy-four athletes from 61 nations competed.[2] Each nation was limited to 3 athletes per rules in force since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The competition comprised four rounds: a preliminary round for entrants without the minimum qualifying standard, a heats round, followed by three semi-finals of eight athletes each, which then reduced to eight athletes for the final.[3]
Just before the start of the final, a spectator threw a plastic bottle into Tyson Gay's lane, intended to hit Usain Bolt who was three lanes outside in Lane 7. The race was unaffected, and Bolt became the second man in history to defend a 100m Olympic title. The spectator, later identified as Ashley Gill-Webb, was soon arrested after he was struck on the head by Dutch judoka and bronze medalist Edith Bosch, whom he happened to be sitting next to.[4][5] LOCOG Chairman Sebastian Coe later stated: "I'm not suggesting vigilantism but it was actually poetic justice that they happened to be sitting next to a judo player".[5] Gill-Webb later pleaded not guilty to a charge of using threatening words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Stratford Magistrates' Court.[6] He was later found guilty.[7]