Jim Hines obituary

Jim Hines, who has died aged 76, was the first man to run 100 metres in less than 10 seconds, but he had to do it twice to claim his world record that stood for nearly 15 years.

Hines cracked the 10-second mark for the first time at the US outdoor championships in Sacramento, in June 1968, in a race dubbed “The Night of Speed”. His hand-timed 9.9 seconds was equalled by the second- and third-place finishers, Charles Greene and Ronnie Ray Smith, who became joint record-breakers, although electronic timing had all three men clocked at just over 10 seconds.

Four months later, at altitude in Mexico City, Hines faced an evenly matched field, including Jamaica’s Lennox Miller, Canada’s Harry Jerome and the former record-equalling Roger Bambuck of France. But he projected a relaxed confidence, telling them, as relayed by the US sprinter Mel Pender, who was also on the starting line, “I’m ready, baby”.

Slightly behind Pender at the start, Hines blasted past him and his other teammate, Greene, to win the race in 9.9, but electronically timed at 9.95. Hines also anchored the 4x100 relay team, with Pender, Greene and Ronnie Ray Smith beating the favoured Jamaicans, who had set world records twice in the heats. Their winning time of 38.24 seconds broke Jamaica’s newest mark.

Mexico City was a scene of protest, but Hines remained quiet about his teammates Tommie Smith and John Carlos, whose clenched fist salutes on the 200m podium became iconic images of the black power movement. Years later Hines explained he felt “the best way a black athlete could make a statement was by going and doing his best … [Tommie and John] didn’t think it out.” As it happened, the 100m medal ceremony, with Hines, Miller and Greene, was the first all-black