The first woman to break the 12-second barrier in the 100-meter race was a man.

Poland’s Stella Walsh (Stanislawa Walasiewicz)-won the women’s 100-meter race at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman to break the 12-second barrier. When she was killed in 1980 as an innocent victim in a robbery attempt, an autopsy declared her to be a male.

The first woman to break the 12-second barrier in the 100-meter race was a man.