The 100 metres is typically considered one of the blue ribbon Olympic track and field events, and of the Olympic Games as a whole.
The Olympic 100 m finals, particularly the men's, are among the most popular events from any sport at the Olympics – the 2012 Olympic men's 100 metres final was the most watched event at the London Games by British audiences (with 20 million television viewers) while in the United States that event was the third-most viewed Olympic clip.

The high-profile nature of 100 m Olympic finals in some countries has served to encourage participation in sport among the wider public, particularly in short sprinting.
Successive generations of athletes cite previous 100 m Olympic champions as the reason for their entering the sport.
The history of the event has had particular impact for African-American athletes: Jesse Owens' Olympic 100 m gold was an early example of a black American achieving success on an international stage while Wilma Rudolph's 1960 win inspired many black American women.
Owens' 100 m victory at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (one of four gold medals he won at the games) helped challenge notions of white supremacy that were popular during that era.

The Olympic 100 metres has been covered by several film documentaries.
Chariots of Fire, a 1981 historical drama focusing on Harold Abrahams' victory at the 1924 Paris Olympics, is among the most prominent.
The film won four Academy Awards, is often listed among polls for the best sports and Olympics films.,
and was ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's 100 Best British Films Wilma Rudolph was a central figure in The Grand Olympics (Italian: La grande olimpiade), an Academy-Award nominated documentary about the 1960 Rome Olympics, where Rudolph's 100 m feats earned her the nickname La Gazzella Negra (The Black Gazelle).
The 1988 Olympic final, featuring Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis has been the topic of documentaries, including ESPN's "9.79*" from the 30 for 30 series, as well as non-fiction books, such as Richard Moore's The Dirtiest Race in History.

Across the sport of track and field, Olympic 100 m champions have often featured on Athlete of the Year lists.
Carl Lewis (1984), Evelyn Ashford (1984), Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988) and Usain Bolt (2008) were chosen as Track & Field News Athlete of the Year in the year of their Olympic victories.
Lewis, Griffith-Joyner, and Bolt were also awarded the title of IAAF World Athlete of the Year for their Olympic feats.
The 100 metres is typically considered one of the blue ribbon Olympic track and field events, and of the Olympic Games as a whole. The Olympic 100 m finals, particularly the men's, are among the most popular events from any sport at the Olympics – the 2012 Olympic men's 100 metres final was the most watched event at the London Games by British audiences (with 20 million television viewers) while in the United States that event was the third-most viewed Olympic clip.
The high-profile nature of 100 m Olympic finals in some countries has served to encourage participation in sport among the wider public, particularly in short sprinting. Successive generations of athletes cite previous 100 m Olympic champions as the reason for their entering the sport. The history of the event has had particular impact for African-American athletes: Jesse Owens' Olympic 100 m gold was an early example of a black American achieving success on an international stage while Wilma Rudolph's 1960 win inspired many black American women. Owens' 100 m victory at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (one of four gold medals he won at the games) helped challenge notions of white supremacy that were popular during that era.
The Olympic 100 metres has been covered by several film documentaries. Chariots of Fire, a 1981 historical drama focusing on Harold Abrahams' victory at the 1924 Paris Olympics, is among the most prominent. The film won four Academy Awards, is often listed among polls for the best sports and Olympics films., and was ranked 19th in the British Film Institute's 100 Best British Films Wilma Rudolph was a central figure in The Grand Olympics (Italian: La grande olimpiade), an Academy-Award nominated documentary about the 1960 Rome Olympics, where Rudolph's 100 m feats earned her the nickname La Gazzella Negra (The Black Gazelle). The 1988 Olympic final, featuring Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis has been the topic of documentaries, including ESPN's "9.79*" from the 30 for 30 series, as well as non-fiction books, such as Richard Moore's The Dirtiest Race in History.
Across the sport of track and field, Olympic 100 m champions have often featured on Athlete of the Year lists. Carl Lewis (1984), Evelyn Ashford (1984), Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988) and Usain Bolt (2008) were chosen as Track & Field News Athlete of the Year in the year of their Olympic victories. Lewis, Griffith-Joyner, and Bolt were also awarded the title of IAAF World Athlete of the Year for their Olympic feats.
100 metres at the Olympics