The women's 100 metres was an event at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. There were a total of 55 participating athletes, with seven qualifying heats. The top four in each heat qualified for the quarterfinals along with the four fastest remaining.

The world record holder and defending gold medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner had retired. The returning silver medalist, 35 year old Evelyn Ashford ran fast in the quarterfinals but was eliminated in the semis. Other returning veterans included Merlene Ottey, who won her first Olympic medal in 1980, Anelia Nuneva who made a heroic attempt to keep up with Griffith-Joyner four years earlier, only to have her hamstring explode in the attempt. Through the semi-final round, Juliet Cuthbert had the fastest qualifying time, while Gwen Torrence was the winner of the other semi-final. Both Cuthbert and Torrence were also returning finalists from 1988. Irina Privalova, Mary Onyali and Liliana Allen were younger sprinters. As the world championship silver medalist in the 100 metres hurdles, Gail Devers was known as a hurdler and didn't carry a strong reputation as a sprinter, though she had finished a distant second in Griffith-Joyner's world record race.

From the gun in the final, Privalova leaped out to an early lead in lane 6. Less noticed in lane 2, Devers also got a slight edge on the two Jamaicans and Torrence in the middle of the track. But Privalova couldn't put them away, instead all three were slowly gaining on the early leaders, with Cuthbert gaining a slight edge amongst the three. By the finish, Devers, Cuthbert, Privalova and Torrence all were within a foot of one another, with Ottey only another foot back. Separated by inches, Devers beat Cuthbert to the line. Privalova barely arrived ahead of Torrence who passed her in the next step after the line.

Four years later, it would be Devers again by inches ahead of Ottey and Torrence to become only the second woman to win the 100 twice in a row.

Records These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.

World record 10.49 Florence Griffith-Joyner Indianapolis (USA) July 16, 1988 Olympic record 10.54 Florence Griffith-Joyner Seoul (KOR) September 24, 1988

Results

Heats First 4 from each heat (Q) and the next 4 fastest (q) qualified for the semifinals.

Rank Heat Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 3 Juliet Cuthbert 11.14 2 4 Gail Devers 11.23 3 6 Evelyn Ashford 11.23 4 1 Merlene Ottey 11.26 5 5 Gwen Torrence 11.28 6 7 Beatrice Utondu 11.30 7 3 Anelia Nuneva 11.34 8 6 Mary Onyali 11.37 9 5 Christy Opara 11.39 10 2 Irina Privalova 11.42 11 6 Wang Huei-Chen 11.43 12 1 Sisko Hanhijoki 11.44 13 3 Elinda Vorster 11.45 13 7 Olga Bogoslovskaya 11.45 15 7 Nelli Fiere-Cooman 11.47 16 4 Pauline Davis-Thompson 11.48 17 5 Liliana Allen 11.49 18 1 Patricia Girard 11.51 19 3 Melinda Gainsford 11.57 19 7 Laurence Bily 11.57 21 6 Lucrécia Jardim 11.58 22 2 Kerry Johnson 11.62 22 3 Odiah Sidibé 11.62 24 4 Stephanie Douglas 11.65 25 4 Myra Mayberry-Wilkinson 11.67 26 1 Gao Han 11.68 26 6 Tian Yumei 11.68 28 2 Xiao Yehua 11.69 28 7 Sabine Tröger 11.69 30 1 Cristina Castro Salvador 11.72 31 2 Dahlia Duhaney 11.73 31 5 Andrea Philipp 11.73 33 5 Lalao Robine Ravaoniriana 11.74 34 4 Heather Samuel 11.76 35 5 Patricia Foufoué Ziga 11.77 36 2 Karen Clarke 11.79 37 2 N'Deye Binta Dia 11.83 38 2 Damayanthi Darsha 11.88 39 3 Ratjai Sripet 11.99 40 7 Marcel Winkler 12.01 41 6 Dawnette Douglas 12.05 42 4 Gaily Dube 12.08 43 1 Trương Hoàng Mỹ Linh 12.11 44 3 Monique Kengné 12.12 44 6 Zoila Stewart 12.12 46 5 Ngozi Mwanamwambwa 12.13 47 7 Aminata Konaté 12.33 48 1 Gail Prescod 12.41 49 3 Vaciseva Tavaga 12.47 50 6 Deirdre Caruana 12.59 51 5 Muyegbe Mubala 12.76 52 4 Laure Kuetey 13.11 53 2 Aminath Rishtha 13.66 7 Magdalena Ansue 4 Antónia de Jesus

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal 1

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Evelyn Ashford 11.13 2 Beatrice Utondu 11.31 3 Sisko Hanhijoki 11.50 4 Patricia Girard 11.54 5 Kerry Johnson 11.59 6 Dahlia Duhaney 11.61 7 Lucrécia Jardim 11.66 8 Tian Yumei 11.78

Quarterfinal 2

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Juliet Cuthbert 11.12 2 Anelia Nuneva 11.17 3 Mary Onyali 11.28 4 Elinda Vorster 11.44 5 Nelli Fiere-Cooman 11.55 6 Laurence Bily 11.64 7 Myra Mayberry 11.69 8 Cristina Castro 11.79

Quarterfinal 3

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Merlene Ottey 11.15 2 Gwen Torrence 11.17 3 Pauline Davis 11.31 4 Olga Bogoslovskaya 11.43 5 Odiah Sidibé 11.63 6 Andrea Philipp 11.67 7 Xiao Yehua 11.73 8 Stephanie Douglas 11.77

Quarterfinal 4

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Irina Privalova 10.98 2 Gail Devers 11.17 3 Liliana Allen 11.33 4 Christy Opara-Thompson 11.42 5 Wang Huei-Chen 11.57 6 Melinda Gainsford 11.67 7 Gao Han 11.76 8 Sabine Tröger 11.76

Semifinals

Semifinal 1 Wind: -2.9 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Gwen Torrence 11.02 2 Merlene Ottey 11.07 3 Irina Privalova 11.08 4 Mary Onyali 11.30 5 Pauline Davis 11.34 6 Christy Opara-Thompson 11.47 7 Sisko Hanhijoki 11.65 8 Patricia Girard 11.70

Semifinal 2 Wind: -0.8 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes 1 Juliet Cuthbert 10.98 2 Gail Devers 11.12 3 Anelia Nuneva 11.17 4 Liliana Allen 11.28 5 Evelyn Ashford 11.29 6 Elinda Vorster 11.44 7 Olga Bogoslovskaya 11.45 8 Beatrice Utondu 11.53

Final Wind: -1.0 Rank Lane Athlete Nation Time 2 Gail Devers 10.82 3 Juliet Cuthbert 10.83 6 Irina Privalova 10.84 4 5 Gwen Torrence 10.86 5 4 Merlene Ottey 10.88 6 7 Anelia Nuneva 11.10 7 8 Mary Onyali 11.15 8 1 Liliana Allen 11.19

See also 1990 Women's European Championships 100 metres (Split) 1991 Women's World Championships 100 metres (Tokyo) 1993 Women's World Championships 100 metres (Stuttgart) 1994 Women's European Championships 100 metres (Helsinki)

References

External links Official Report Results