Lowest aggregate time for an Olympic 100 m final (male)

The eight sprinters who contested the 100 m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games crossed the finish line in an aggregate time of 79.38 seconds, making it the fastest 100 m race in Olympic history. The final was won by Usain Bolt (Jamaica) in a then-record time of 9.69 seconds, with five other men posting sub-10-second times, including personal bests for silver medallist Richard Thompson (Trinidad and Tobago, 9.89 seconds) and third-placed Walter Dix (USA, 9.91 seconds). The finishing times in full were: Usain Bolt - 9.69 seconds; Richard Thompson - 9.89; Walter Dix - 9.91; Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) - 9.93; Asafa Powell (Jamaica) - 9.95; Michael Frater (Jamaica) - 9.97; Marc Burns (Trinidad and Tobago) - 10.01; Darvis Patton (USA) - 10.03. At the time, this race held the record for the most sub-10-second finishers in an Olympic 100 m final (beating the five runners who achieved the same feat in 2004), but at London 2012 seven of the eight finalists posted sub-10-second times. Ironically, the only man who didn't go under 10 seconds was the injured Asafa Powell (Jamaica), who has run more competitive sub-10-second 100 m races (88) than any other sprinter in the history of the event, including the 2008 final (see details above). If Powell had run two seconds faster than the 11.99 he posted in the 2012 final, all 10 men would have gone below 10 seconds and the London final would have taken the record for the lowest aggregate time for a 100 m final. As it was, the aggregate time was 80.76 seconds. Note that four of the last seven Olympic 100 m finals have included a disqualification (1988 and 1996) or a DNF (did not finish) (2000 and 2004), so those races have not been considered for this record. 9.91 9.93 9.95 9.97 10.01 10.03 79.38 seconds overall…