The title of “The Fastest Man on Earth” once again goes to Noah Lyles as he edged out competitor Kishane Thompson by just 0.005 seconds in the men’s 100m final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The men’s 100m final at the Paris 2024 Olympics witnessed one of the closest finishes in history.
As Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson – two athletes considered the fastest in the world – crossed the finish line, neither dared to celebrate. They knew they had qualified for an Olympic medal but were uncertain about their exact placements.
It wasn’t until the results were displayed that fans erupted with joy as Noah Lyles retained his title as “The Fastest Man on Earth,”</strong finishing just 0.005 seconds ahead of Kishane Thompson.
Faster than a Blink
Before the official results were announced, NBC commentators declared Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson the winner.
“I went to congratulate him while we were waiting for the results. I even told him I was proud of him for achieving it,” NBC reported that Lyles had even referred to himself as the loser.
Thompson, who started in lane 4, was not convinced. Ten seconds passed, then twenty. After nearly thirty seconds, the results finally appeared.
The athlete from Florida finished with a time of 9.784 seconds. Thompson, often referred to as the “Little Usain Bolt” of Jamaica, claimed the silver medal with a time of 9.789 seconds. Fred Kerley (USA) closely followed with 9.81 seconds, winning the bronze medal.
Global media dubbed the men’s 100m final at the Paris 2024 Olympics as “one of the most thrilling in history,” with the champion finishing just 0.005 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
The moment athletes cross the finish line in the men’s 100m Olympic event at Paris 2024.
To put this in perspective, an average blink of an eye lasts about 0.1 seconds, which is roughly twenty times longer than the margin separating the two finishers in this race.
Not only was the finish close between the top two, but the final results showed that the top four athletes were separated by less than 0.03 seconds. Broader still, the difference among the first seven finishers was only 0.09 seconds.
According to AP, this was the closest finish in the 100m event at least since the Moscow 1980 Olympics, when athlete Allan Wells (UK) narrowly defeated Silvio Leonard in an era when electronic timing had not yet achieved millisecond precision.
A similar situation occurred in 1932, when Eddie Tolan won the first Olympic photo finish.
Technology Decides Everything
In the finish line photo, Kerley’s orange shoe crossed the line ahead of everyone else. However, according to Olympic rules and regulations, the athlete whose torso first touches the nearest edge of the finish line is declared the winner.
This means that the torso is the critical part of the body, not the head, limbs, or feet.
This is what helped Lyles secure the gold medal and the title of the fastest man in the world, despite some viewers thinking that other athletes’ shoes had crossed the line first.
Official image from Omega showing Noah Lyles’ torso crossing the finish line 0.005 seconds ahead of Thompson.
The photo from Omega, the official timekeeper of the Olympics, clarified the situation. According to the judges, Lyles’ body, from the collarbone down, crossed the line 0.005 seconds before Thompson.
Without the technology used by Omega at the Olympics for timing, a definitive answer would never have been possible.
In fact, many major sports at the Olympics would not be feasible without the ultra-precise timing technology provided by Omega.
Timing methods have improved with each Olympic Games. Omega has been supplying manual stopwatches for the Olympics since 1932.
At the London 1948 Olympics, the Magic Eye camera system was introduced to determine finishers and stop the clock. Previously, both observation and timing were done manually.
Manual timing continued for the next twenty years. Mexico 1968 was the first Olympics to fully implement an electronic timing system, though about 45 manual stopwatches were still on hand in case the system failed.
Camera synchronized with Omega’s quantum timing system used at the Olympics to determine finishers in athletics.
The Paris 2024 Olympics marks the 30th time Omega has been the official timing partner of the Games. This partnership includes the use of complex devices, sensors, cameras, positioning systems, and numerous other innovations.
At the London 2012 Olympics, they introduced the Quantum Timer, capable of measuring time with precision up to 1/1,000,000 of a second.
Omega’s timing system at the Olympics connects to the Scan’O’Vision Myria camera, which can capture 10,000 images per second and send them to the judges to determine who finishes first.
Specifically, when an athlete crosses the finish line, laser beams and sensors connect to the timer to record the time, displaying results in real time.
This system also synchronizes with the starting gun and includes sensors on the starting blocks to detect any athlete who jumps the gun by more than 0.1 seconds when the gun is fired.
Approximately 80,000 fans present at the Stade de France were also uncertain about who would win the gold medal; only the electronic devices knew exactly who was faster.
