With some of the world's most promising sprinters, including 2000 Olympic champion Marion Jones and home favorite Ekaterini Thanou, absent, the race had become widely open in the final.

Simpson faded quickly from her fast start being overtaken by Belarusian sprinter Yulia Nestsiarenka, who attempted to find her stride with just 30 metres into the race on the outside.

While Williams and Campbell found their stride to maintain a commanding lead towards the 60-metre mark, Nestsiarenka held off a late charge to continue her march past the field and produce a storming finish with a Belarusian record of 10.93 seconds, making her the nation's first Olympic champion in this event.

[2] Following an unexpected victory from Nestsiarenka, Williams edged the fast closing Campbell for a silver medal by a hundredth of a second, finishing at 10.96.

For the women's 200 metres, each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had run the race in 11.30 seconds or faster during the qualification period.