The 100 Metres Trivia
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54 free The 100 Metres trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This 100 metres trivia quiz covers the ten seconds that decide who is the fastest human alive. The easy questions are the ones any Olympic viewer knows: the man who ran 9.58, the woman whose 10.49 has stood since 1988, the three commands at the start and what happens on a false start now. From there it moves through the first sub-10 clocking, the Night of Speed, the men who won Olympic gold before turning to the NFL, and the record that was rescinded three days after Seoul. The harder end is for athletics obsessives: the German who was accused of a false start for running too fast, the runway lane ruined by race walkers in Tokyo, the invention of the starting block, why 0.100 seconds matters, the tailwind limit, why 100 m times at altitude carry an A, the anemometer that read zero on a windy day in Indianapolis, and the five-thousandths of a second that separated gold and silver in Paris. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the event, its record progressions, its champions and its Olympic finals before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Usain Bolt, Olympic Games and athletics quizzes next.
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Q 01Which sprinter set the women's 100 m world record of 10.49 seconds?
Florence Griffith Joyner
Florence Griffith Joyner had never won an individual Olympic or world title before 1988, then set this record at the US trials and took three Olympic golds in Seoul.
Q 02What are the three instructions given to sprinters at the start of a 100 m race?
On your marks, set, and the gun
The set position lets them preload their muscles isometrically for a faster start.
Q 03Since 2010, what happens to a sprinter who false-starts?
Immediate disqualification
Immediate disqualification: the old rule, one false start per race, let some sprinters false-start on purpose to unsettle rivals.
Q 04Which sprinter won the 1972 Olympic 100 m after two US favourites missed their quarterfinals over a schedule mix-up?
Valeriy Borzov
Valeriy Borzov nearly missed his own quarterfinal too, having dozed off before reaching the track just in time.
Q 05In a 100 m race, which part of a sprinter's body must reach the finish line first to win?
The torso
The torso: it only has to reach the nearer edge of the line, so no sprinter has to cross the finish line fully.
Q 06Who was the first man to break 10 seconds with automatic timing, at the 1968 Olympics?
Jim Hines
Jim Hines: in the 4x100 m relay he took the baton in third place, yet his anchor leg won his team gold.
Q 07What happened at the 'Night of Speed' in Sacramento in 1968?
Three men ran hand-timed 9.9
Three men ran hand-timed 9.9, all in the semi-finals, yet that night's final was won in a wind-aided 10.0.
Q 08Which NFL team drafted the sprinter who won the 1968 Olympic 100 m?
Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins: they picked him in the 1968 draft, months before his Olympic gold, but he played just ten games for them, all in 1969.
Q 09Who was the first woman to run the 100 m under 11 seconds with automatic timing?
Marlies Göhr
Marlies Göhr ran 10.88 in 1977, yet at the 1980 Olympics she lost the 100 m final at the line.
Q 10What does a sprint photo-finish camera record?
Only the finish line
Only the finish line: the camera looks through a thin vertical slit there, and each runner's time comes from a time scale on the image.
Q 11Which sprinter, runner-up in both the 1932 and 1936 Olympic 100 m, later served in the US Congress?
Ralph Metcalfe
Ralph Metcalfe: at the 1932 Games he turned down a 200 m re-run over a disputed lane marking rather than risk his team's clean sweep.
Q 12Why was Bob Hayes's lane in poor shape for the 1964 Olympic 100 m final?
Distance races had torn it up
Distance races had torn it up: 10,000 m runners churned it in the rain the day before and walkers earlier that day, yet Track & Field News called Hayes's winning margin 'insulting to an Olympic final field'.
Q 13After officials ruled Armin Hary's 10.0 in Zurich in 1960 a false start, what did he do?
Q 21Which sprinter won the 1992 Olympic 100 m after a comeback from Graves' disease?
Gail Devers
Gail Devers: at the same Games she was leading the 100 m hurdles final when she hit the last barrier and stumbled over the line in fifth.
Q 22Which banned substance was found in Ben Johnson's urine sample in Seoul?
Stanozolol
Stanozolol: Johnson denied doping at first, but at Canada's Dubin Inquiry he eventually admitted long-term steroid use.
Q 23What is the title of Charlie Francis's book about coaching Ben Johnson?
Speed Trap
Speed Trap: Francis was banned by Athletics Canada after admitting at the Dubin Inquiry that he had introduced Johnson to drugs.
Ran again and matched it
Ran again and matched it: the jury allowed a re-run 35 minutes later, and his second 10.0 became the world record.
Q 14Armin Hary's 1960 Olympic gold made him the first non-American winner since which Canadian in 1928?
Percy Williams
Percy Williams worked as a waiter and dishwasher in a railway dining car to reach Canada's trials, then won both sprints in Amsterdam.
Q 15Which sprinter won the very first Olympic 100 m in 1896?
Thomas Burke
Thomas Burke was a 400 m man with no real sprint reputation, yet he took the 100 m title.
Q 16Who was the first women's Olympic 100 m champion, in 1928?
Betty Robinson
Betty Robinson: a 1931 plane crash left her unable to kneel for a normal start, yet she won 4x100 m relay gold at the 1936 Olympics.
Q 17At the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens won the 100 m, 200 m, relay and which field event?
Long jump
Long jump: soon after those Games Owens turned professional and endured years of financial hardship.
Q 18Which sprinter emulated Jesse Owens's 1936 haul at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis: four years later he won the 100 m again, but only after the winner, Ben Johnson, was stripped of the gold.
Q 19Which childhood illness did Wilma Rudolph overcome before her three golds in Rome in 1960?
Polio
She lost strength in her left leg and foot and wore a brace, making weekly bus trips to Nashville for treatment.
Q 20Who became the first woman to retain the Olympic 100 m title, in 1964 and 1968?
Wyomia Tyus
Wyomia Tyus retired after Mexico City, then returned as a professional in 1973 and the next year won every race she entered.
Q 24Where did Usain Bolt first break the 100 m world record, running 9.72 in May 2008?
New York City
New York City: until that 9.72 at the Reebok Grand Prix, Bolt had been seen mainly as a 200 m runner.
Q 25What did Bolt do before the line in his 2008 Olympic 100 m record?
Slowed to celebrate
Slowed to celebrate: days later, in the 200 m final, he ran hard all the way to the line instead.
Q 26Which world-class hurdler won the 1948 Olympic 100 m after failing to qualify in his own event?
Harrison Dillard
Harrison Dillard: four years later he made no mistake, winning the 110 m hurdles at Helsinki.
Q 27Who took silver behind Usain Bolt's Olympic-record 9.63 in the 100 m at London 2012?
Yohan Blake
Yohan Blake had beaten Bolt over 100 m at the Jamaican Olympic trials weeks before London.
Q 28Why has the women's 100 m world record of 10.49 been doubted?
The wind gauge read zero on a windy day
The wind gauge read zero on a windy day: a 1995 physics report for the IAAF judged that reading inaccurate, yet as of 2025 it remains the world record.
Q 29As of 2025, which sprinter's 10.54 from 2021 was the second-fastest legal women's 100 m ever?
Elaine Thompson-Herah
Elaine Thompson-Herah ran it weeks after retaining her Olympic title in Tokyo, yet three years later she missed the Paris Games.
Q 30As of 2025, which sprinter was the only person to have won five world 100 m titles?
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the Pocket Rocket, won in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2022, but at Paris 2024 an injury kept her out of the semi-finals.