(Sports news) On October 14 1968 at the Mexico Olympics, American athlete Jim Hines became the first sprinter to officially run the 100 metre event under 10 seconds. He held the world record of 9.95 secs for 15 years until Calvin Smith ran a 9.93 in 1983. The Olympic record stood for 20 years until Carl Lewis broke it in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Hines was also one of the most well built sprinters at that period of time and was part of the period where muscled athletes became a common sight. 

The sub 10 barrier now has been crossed many times but Hines did it 53 years ago, Bob Hayes had been timed at 10 secs at the previous Olympics at Tokyo. But Hines is credited with the record and was one of the highlights of the Mexico Olympics. Hines was later part of the 4×100 relay team which broke the World and Olympic record while running a 38.24 as USA sweeped the sprinting events. 

In the next fourteen years, the sub 10 timing was crossed only once as Silvio Leonard ran a 9.98 in 1977. Since Hines and Silvio, over 154 athletes have run the 100m under 10 secs till date and in the year 2015 it was crossed a record 15 times. Over 28 countries have recorded sub 10 seconds with the US having done it on 62 occasions. Asafa Powell holds the record of most sub 10 races as he has done it 97 times.

Hines participated in only one Olympics and had a short career in the field. Hines later tried his hand in the National Football League but remained unsuccessful and did not play after 1970. Although in a short span, he did make the headlines in the 100 metre event for his country and his record will always be on the top sprinting records. When Hines broke the world record the fully automated timing was slowly entering the sporting world as it was timed by hand before. The electronic timing is accurate and gives credibility to any record.

It has been one of the most watched events at the Olympics and World Championships. Hines not only broke a record he also broke the psychological barrier in the event as even now athletes are battling hard to break the sub 10 timing. It has now become a standard time for every top athlete and records create new pathways in an event. It was not possible 6 decades ago, but now with each athlete pushing limits and the growth of technology, the audience is able to get the exact timings to the hundredths of a second.

Also read: 21 years since Karnam Malleshwari lifted the spirits of Indian women at the Olympics