As is expected, the finishing times for 100 metres in Olympics have become shorter over history, reflecting greater participation and improved training techniques as well as the motivation to break previously held records.

After the dramatic drop from the first to second Olympics, the improvement has been more gradual. In the 1930s, black American sprinters like Jesse Owens, Eddie Tolan and Ralph Metcalfe took sprinting to a new level. The 1948 Olympics seen strong sprinting times as well. The 1950s showed a decline in sprinting which was reversed from the 1960s onwards.

The first gold medalist to run under 10 seconds was Jim Hines in 1968 during that record breaking Olympics in Mexico City. There was a notable slowing down in 1980 due in part to the boycott of the Moscow Olympics by American athletes. From 1988 to the most recent Olympics in 2016, all gold medalists ran under 10 seconds and all medalists from 2004 to 2016 had final times under 10 seconds. The last 3 gold medals have been won by the Jamaican Usain Bolt whose times in 2008 and 2012 were particularly notable.