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Donovan Bailey Donovan Bailey Nationality: Canadian Distance(s): 100 metres Date of birth: December 16, 1967 (1967-12-16) (age 42) Place of birth: Manchester, Jamaica Height: 1.84 m (6 ft +1⁄2 in) Weight: 82 kg (180 lb; 12.9 st)

Medal record Competitor for  Canada Men’s athletics Olympic Games Gold 1996 Atlanta 100 m Gold 1996 Atlanta 4×100 m relay World Championships Gold 1995 Gothenburg 100 m Gold 1995 Gothenburg 4×100 m relay Gold 1997 Athens 4×100 m relay Silver 1997 Athens 100 m

Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Canadian sprinter who once held the world record for the 100 metre race following his gold medal performance in the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m.

Early life

Born in Manchester, Jamaica in 1967, Bailey emigrated to Canada at age 13, and played basketball before his graduation at Queen Elizabeth Park High School in Oakville, Ontario. He began competing as a 100 m sprinter part-time in 1991, but he did not take up the sport seriously until 1994. At that time, he was also a stockbroker.

Career

At the 1995 world Track & Field Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Bailey won both the 100 metre sprint and the 4 x 100 metre relay titles.

As a precursor to the centennial Olympics being held in Atlanta, Bailey broke the indoor 50 m world record during a competition in Reno, Nevada in 1996. He was timed at 5.56A seconds. Maurice Greene matched that performance in 1999, but his run was never ratified as a world record. Bailey repeated the "double" at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, setting a world record of 9.84s +0.7 m/s wind in the 100 m (the previous record was set in July 1994 by American Leroy Burrell at 9.85 seconds). Many Canadians felt his victory restored the image of Canadian athletes, which had been tarnished by Ben Johnson's previous disqualified win at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Bailey was the second person to hold all the major titles in the 100 m concurrently (World Champion, Olympic Champion & World Record Holder); Carl Lewis was the first to achieve this feat.

Bailey won a third world title in 1997 with the Canadian relay team, while finishing second in the 100 m behind Maurice Greene. While Donovan was at a basketball party he broke a bone in his foot which made it hard to run fast. This bone that Donovan broke was very hard to fix since it was behind his muscle and flesh.

After the 1997 season, Bailey ruptured his Achilles tendon during the post season 98; effectively ending his career. He made a second attempt in the 2000 Summer Olympics for Olympic glory but suffered from pneumonia and dropped out during the rounds. He retired from the sport in 2001, having been a five-time World and Olympic champion.

Bailey's time of 9.84 in Atlanta was the 100 m world record from 1996 until 1999, when it was broken by Greene . The time also stood as the Commonwealth record from 1996 until 2005, when it was broken by Asafa Powell, and is the current Canadian record (shared with Bruny Surin since 1999). His Olympic record was broken by Usain Bolt at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

World's Fastest Man competition

In May 1997, he raced against Michael Johnson in a 150 m race at Toronto's SkyDome in a bid to truly determine who the world's fastest man was. Although the race was a marketing ploy for the masses, sport science and elementary math had already determined who had achieved that moniker in Atlanta.

Earlier in the spring of 1997, Johnson began performing television promotions in which he billed himself as "the world's fastest man" as a result of his 200 meters world record, despite the fact that the 100 metres world record holders are traditionally given that unofficial title. Bailey refused to take part, stating that "the world's fastest man was decided in Atlanta" but when financial negotiations were tabled Bailey took his mark.

Bailey won $1.5 million for winning the race, in which Johnson pulled up around the 110 m mark, claiming an injured quadriceps muscle.

After racing

After racing, Bailey started his own company called DBX Sport Management, which helps amateur athletes find a way to promote themselves and a sport injury clinic in Oakville, Ontario.

He has been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame twice. Once in 2004 as an individual, and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4x100 relay team.^[1]

In August 2008, Bailey worked as a track commentator for CBC Television at the 2008 Summer Olympics. ^[2] He estimated that had Usain Bolt not slowed down near the end of the 100m dash (which he still won in record time), he could have set a time of 9.55 seconds ^[3]

Family

Bailey's half-sister, Arlene Duncan, is a television actress currently starring in the Canadian television sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Personal bests

Event	Time (seconds)	Venue	Date
50 meters	5.56 (1996–present)	Reno, Nevada, United States	February 9, 1996
60 meters	6.51	Maebashi, Japan	February 8, 1997
100 meters	9.84 (1996–1999) 0000 (1996–2008)	Atlanta, Georgia, United States	July 27, 1996
150 meters	14.99	Toronto, Canada	June 01, 1997
200 meters	20.42	Lucerne, Switzerland	July 2, 1998

References

See also

• World record progression 100 metres men

External links

• Official Website
• IAAF profile for Donovan Bailey