Past

The history of the 100m has been improved upon 12 times since the introduction of electronic timing system in 1968.

Harold Abrahams

1920 Olympics he did not qualify for the 100m or 200m, he also finished 20^th in the long jump. He was then introduced to Sam Mussbini who perfected his start, stride and form. He then qualified for the 1924 Olympics-here on the 7^th July at 7pm he won the 100m Paris Olympics. Although starting blocks had not been introduced yet he did start in a crouched position.

Before the introduction of starting blocks, competitors used to dig holes into the ground to place their feet. Competitors were given trowels at the beginning of the race.

 The starting blocks were first invented by Charlie booth in 1929, however in the beginning they were wooden. On some tracks starting blocks were permanently stuck on the starting line, they then were created using metal instead of wood, however they were very heavy and the screws attaching the blocks to the ground frequently broke. 

Although running shoes had been made since the late 1800’s in the 1920’s Adolf Dassler became the main name for producing running shoes with ‘spikes’ in them. All the top athletes wore these shoes at the time including Jesse Owens.

Jesse Owens

The Berlin Olympics in 1936 was the last Olympics to not use starting blocks and Jesse Owens time of 10.2 was the last world record recorded from not using starting blocks

Jim Hines

Jim Hines was the first man to break the 10s 100m barrier in 1968 with a time of 9.95.. Alongside this in 1968 the electronic timing system was introduced.