Usain Bolt held the world record in the 100 meter dash.
Usain Bolt . He also holds the world record as a part of the 4 × 100 metres relay . An eight-time Olympic gold medalist , Bolt won the 100 m , 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay at three consecutive Olympic Games , although he subsequently lost one of the gold medals ( as well as the world record set therein ) nine years after the fact due to teammate Nesta Carter 's disqualification for doping offences . Bolt improved upon his first 100 m world record of 9.69 with 9.58 seconds in 2009 -- the biggest improvement since the start of electronic timing . He has helped Jamaica to three 4 × 100 metres relay world records , with the current record being 36.84 seconds set in 2012 .