From the earliest Olympiad to primary school sports days, the idea of running fast is seemingly embedded into human nature.
Depictions of sprinting have been discovered in cave paintings dating back over 15,000 years, with organised running being found across ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and, of course, Greece.
Since the advent of the modern Olympics, the 100m has not only become a hallmark of human performance but also the jewel in the games' crown.
Because despite being the shortest athletics event on offer it is the one that carries the most gravitas.
To answer why this is the case, it is first worth taking a trip back to Olympia, 776BC.
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Origins in the Stadion
For fifty-two years, the ancient Greek equivalent of the sprint was the only event held at the Olympics.
The stadion (or stade) was a 190m race, stretching the length of a building of the same name, that was held in the town of Olympia.
It supposedly began as an addition to long-held festivals dedicated to Zeus, King of the Gods, and the importance of the stade was almost immediate.
Coroebus of Elis (the region surrounding Olympia) may have been a baker by trade, but his triumph in the stadion footrace garnered him widespread admiration. His grave in Elis became a landmark for centuries to come.
As the Olympics spread throughout Greece, the stadion kept its prestige. Although the Games themselves promoted peace, running events were seen as important in maintaining fitness for army service, with variations including a four stade course where competitors ran whilst wearing armour weighing over 27kg.
As ancient times drifted into the middle ages, sport in general remained primarily a source of keeping up good physique for future militaristic endeavours, but there was little proliferation of staged tournaments in recreational or spiritual senses.
The tail end of the Renaissance period saw more interest in physical fitness, particularly running. This was mostly concentrated in the elite of society until the Industrial Revolution, where an increased amount of leisure time saw the wider population engage in sport too.
Come 1896 and the birth of the first modern Olympic Games, sports like running and pedestrianism (an early form of racewalking) were already popular.
A shortening of the course Coroebus tackled, 100 metres became the basis of the straight sprint we see today as the Olympiad returned to Greece.
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Dawn of the 100m
In Athens, American Thomas Burke - perhaps the Coroebus of our era - won the first 100m gold medal, recording a time of 11.80 in his qualifier that became the new official world record.
Such a record had been unofficially broken over twenty-one times before and after the Games, but it was not until 1912 when Donald Lippincott set a time of 10.60s in Stockholm during his first heat. The Philadelphia native only managed a bronze in the final, however.
The United States' golden dominance - interspersed with South Africa's Reggie Walker and Harold Abrahams (of Chariots of Fire fame) - even largely continued into the women's event, which was first held in 1928 and won by sixteen-year-old Betty Robinson.
Four years later, another significant step was made in the progression of the 100m as Eddie Tolan won gold in Los Angeles, making him the first black winner and beating his own world record with a time of 10.38s.
Under the glare of Nazi Germany, the great Jesse Owens stepped up four years on, claiming the 100m as part of his remarkable quadruple gold haul in Berlin.
Despite still not being allowed to use the same bathrooms as white people, - with Owens not even being congratulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt - black athletes were consistently proving to be the very best of the American and world track talent.
It would take twenty-four years for such a barrier to be broken in the women's field.
In 1960, Wilma Rudolph stormed home in 11.18s as part of a three-gold collection in Rome, with the victory seeing her become one of the most prominent black women in American culture. Made all the more astounding by the fact that she was unable to walk without a leg brace until eleven-years-old due to suffering from polio as a child.
In 1964 and 1968, the US continued to command the Olympic sprinting titles - as did black athletes. "Bullet" Bob Hayes and Wyomia Tyus claimed gold in Tokyo, with Tyus defending her title four years later in Mexico City - the first sprinter (male or female) to retain the 100m.
Mexico would not only provide the setting for Tommie Smith and John Carlos' watershed protests against racial injustice on the 200m podiums, but other significant steps in the progression of equal rights and athletic achievements.
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The ten-second barrier
Born in Arkansas but raised in Oakland, California, Jim Hines switched from being a baseball player in his youth to a formidable sprinter in his professional life.
In Sacramento, five months prior to the '68 Games, Hines became the first person to break the ten-second barrier. The feat was previously seen as an elusive target.
The inclusion of apartheid South Africa and continued racial divide in America led to discussion of a potential boycott of the Olympics, organised by the Olympic Project for Human Rights.
Instead, athletes, such as Smith and Carlos, performed individual protests in front of the millions watching worldwide, as well as showcasing the excellence of black competitors on the track too.
Hines was a key part of that. He would shave his 9.99s record to a 9.95s in the high altitude of Mexico City - a record that would stand for nearly fifteen years.
Like Hayes before him, Hines would attempt a career in the NFL after his gold. Albeit with significantly less success than "Bullet's" Super Bowl-winning second wind.
Through the 1970s, Hines' record remained the benchmark. Only Cuba's Silvio Leonard could claim an official time sub ten seconds by the close of the decade.
East German Renate Stecher became the first woman to run under 11 seconds in 1973 during a near decade of dominance for European women in the event.
In the men's, the Soviet Union's Valeriy Borzov, Trinidad and Tobago's Hasely Crawford and Allan Wells of Great Britain also made it a rare eight years of strife for the US as each claimed first prize in 1972, 1976 and 1980 respectively.
But, in 1983, like a London bus, two came along at once. Calvin Smith set a new world record of 9.93s, with Carl Lewis reaching 9.97s on his journey to Olympic gold in 1984 and, under certain circumstances, 1988.
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Enhanced performances
Doping was certainly nothing new by the time the Seoul Olympics rolled around.
Stecher was part of a largely coordinated program in East Germany where competitors were forced to take performance enhancing drugs. Although during the 70s and 80s, drug usage was not limited to behind the Iron Curtain.
Perhaps the most famous case of doping in sports history came after Canadian Ben Johnson was stripped of the 100m title three days after winning the race, beating bitter rival Lewis and topping his own world record in the process.
Johnson became the first athlete ever to be disqualified after winning an Olympic gold. The 1988 100m were marred in controversy as only two runners would finish their careers with a 100% drug free record, including Lewis and future British gold winner Linford Christie.
Even as Florence Griffith Joyner could not escape such discussion when she annihilated fellow American Evelyn Ashford's world record in a time of 10.49s - a time that you would have still seen in the corner as Julien Alfred ran home to 100m gold last night.
No sufficient evidence has ever come to light about Joyner using enhanced substances, but talk of such has never truly gone away either.
Even around the turn of the century, doping allegations and bans have tainted the event and world of athletics at large. There were still those like Donovan Bailey and Maurice Greene who succeeded with no bans for steroid usage.
It would even come to pass that 2004 gold medallist Justin Gatlin and long time world record holder Asafa Powell would both serve suspensions for doping at some point in their careers.
Some, like Lewis, were cleared for accidental ingestions, while others, like Powell, had violations later in their careers. Which, while not justifying it, do not otherwise smear the records and achievements of their early years.
Even double Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce faced a brief suspension in 2010, while second fastest man in history Yohan Blake was banned for three months two years earlier.
Not to take away from the greatness these sprinters clearly possess on their own merit. They are undoubtedly amongst the best regardless, but is it simply the case that no one with a completely clean record could compete at the very top?
Not if Usain had anything to say about it.
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The lightning Bolt
In Athens, 2004, few probably would have suspected that the fifth placed finisher from heat four in the 200m would go on to become the greatest athlete in history.
However, at that time, Usain Bolt was hampered by a hamstring injury, forcing him to return to his native Jamaica almost as soon as arriving in Greece.
Some alterations to his training and a decision to move to the 100m instead of the 400m meant Bolt had already claimed a world record before heading to Beijing.
Winning the 100m by 0.20s - in 9.69s, Bolt was already making history. The image of him celebrating before crossing the line, completely clear of silver medallist Richard Thompson, was instantly iconic.
The 100m had a new hero who, over the next eight years, would come to not only dominate the sport but redefine human performance as we know it. He would eventually accumulate nine (later deducted to eight due to Nesta Carter's failed drugs test) golds out of nine Olympic finals.
Bolt's greatest race would come a year later at the World Championships in Berlin. A blistering time of 9.58s set the sporting world (and probably his shoes) alight. The then 23-year-old also clocked in at 27.8mph - the fastest human footspeed ever recorded.
Over 1200 years after the stadion in Olympia hosted its first race, the Olympiastadion had played host to one of the pinnacles of athletic eminence.
Along with Blake, Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah, Bolt also spearheaded Jamaican ascendancy in the 100m. Although the country was previously seen in the heritage of Bailey and Christie, it was now time for the Caribbean nation to lead the way on its own accord.
In recent months, the 9.58s record has recently eclipsed the duration that Jim Hines' seismic world record stood for. Fourteen years and eleven months later, Bolt's image is still firmly on the front cover of the 100m history books.
Come Paris 2024, this is the new benchmark. One that will prove to be even more elusive than Hines' time.
Another Jamaican in Kishane Thompson has the world leading time of 9.77s, but none of the current field of men have yet to run under 9.75s. Noah Lyles, Marcell Jacobs and Fred Kerley will still be amongst the fierce competition on Sunday.
In fact, only Blake and the USA's Tyson Gay have ever run under 9.70s... apart from Bolt, who has done so on three occasions.
It is unlikely the men's 100m record will be broken anytime soon, though the likes of Thompson-Herah, gold winner Alfred and Sha'Carri Richardson pose future threat to Joyner's 10.49s.
"Not now," Bolt said when asked if he could lose his record soon. "I've not seen the talent yet to get there."
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Conclusion
The magnitude of sprint events have been largely felt across time.
Prehistoric survival necessity translated into competitions, which have developed into consistent monitoring of peak human physical performance through championships.
To put it plainly: people like running fast, and, in turn, enjoy watching others run fast too. That simplicity is crystallised in the 100m better than any other event.
Not everyone can complete a solid 1500m or execute a Fosbury flop. Most people cannot run 100m in less than eleven seconds either, but there's a universality to the mere notion of running in a straight line as fast as possible that is not matched by many other Olympic sports.
And as the eyes of the world once again fix upon eight of the finest male sprinters on the planet, one thing is for sure: nine seconds of guaranteed excitement awaits.
(And some hasty rewrites if any records are broken).
