Background and career
Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a Jamaican-Canadian retired sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to become Olympic champion in 1996. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m. Particularly noted for his top speed, Bailey ran 12.10 m/s (43.6 km/h; 27.1 mph) in his 1996 Olympic title run, the fastest ever recorded by a human at the time. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 as an individual athlete and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4 × 100 relay team. In 2005, he was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
Donovan Anthony Bailey was born in Manchester Parish, Jamaica, on December 16, 1967, as the fourth of five sons to George and Daisy Bailey. Before going to Mount Olivet Primary School, he would take care of his family's chickens, goats, and pigs. Donovan was fast when he was a young boy, with his former teacher Claris Lambert recounting that "He showed his athletic skills from grade one. He always came first in races." Before going to Canada, Bailey competed for one year at ISSA Champs for Knox College in Manchester, Jamaica. Bailey immigrated to Canada at age 12 and played basketball before graduating from Queen Elizabeth Park High School in Oakville, Ontario. During high school, his brother, O'Neil, won 4 Ontario Provincial titles in the long jump. Bailey was exceptionally fast as well, clocking 10.65 seconds in the 100 m at the age of 16. However, his main interest was in basketball. After graduating in June 1984, Bailey attended Sheridan College, for which he played basketball during the 1986–1987 school year. He graduated from Sheridan with a degree in business administration. Bailey then began working as a property and marketing consultant for an importing and exporting clothing company.
It was only in 1990 that Bailey decided to begin racing professionally; after watching the 1990 Canadian Track and Field Championships, he realized that most of the men competing were men he had beaten in high school. He began training as a 100 m sprinter part-time, while working as a stockbroker. In 1991, he won the 60 metres at the Ontario Indoor Championships, and at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba, Bailey anchored Canada's 4 × 100 metres relay team, to a silver medal. In 1992, Bailey finished second in the 100 m at the national championships. From 1993 to 1994, he competed for Fenerbahçe Athletics. During this time, he claimed a bronze in the 100 m and a silver in the 200 m at the 1993 national championships, a silver in the 100 m and gold in the 4 × 100 metres at the 1994 Francophone Games in Paris, and a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia. However, despite his impressive performances at a national level, he was only chosen as an alternate for the 4 × 100 m at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart. American coach Dan Pfaff, who coached Bailey's high school friend Glenroy Gilbert at Louisiana State University and listened to Bailey's complaints, was impressed by Bailey's performances considering his terrible form and fitness. Pfaff invited Bailey to train with him and Gilbert at LSU, and with just 3 months of training together, Bailey shaved 3 tenths of a second off of his 100 m personal best; his time of 10.03 seconds was the third fastest in Canadian history.
On April 22, 1995, Bailey made history by breaking the 10-second barrier for the first time in the 100 m, becoming the 18th man and 2nd Canadian to legally do so. His time of 9.99 seconds was just 4 hundredths shy of Ben Johnson's record of 9.95. In July, he broke Johnson's record with 9.91 at the national championships, the fastest time of the year, effectively asserting his name as a favorite for the gold medal at the World Championships in Gothenburg later that year. Bailey went on to win the title in 9.97 seconds, then followed it up by anchoring Canada to their first world championship gold in the 4 × 100 m.
With a world title now under his belt, Bailey was highly considered to be a favorite for the Olympic title in Atlanta that July. As a precursor to the centennial Olympics, Bailey broke the indoor 50 m world record during a competition in Reno, Nevada in 1996. He was timed at 5.56 seconds. Maurice Greene later matched that performance in 1999, but his run was never ratified as a world record. Bailey was officially selected to represent Canada at the 1996 Summer Olympics after winning his 3rd consecutive national title in the 100 m. On July 27, after a very disrupted start to the race, Bailey won the Olympic 100 m title setting a new world record of 9.84 seconds. During the race, he hit a top speed of 12.10 m/s (43.6 km/h or 27.1 mph), which was the fastest top speed ever recorded by a human being at the time. Many Canadians felt Bailey's victory restored the image of Canadian athletes, after the exposure of Ben Johnson's history of doping. At the time, Bailey was only the second person after Carl Lewis to hold all the major titles in the 100 m concurrently (World Champion, Olympic Champion & World Record Holder). 6 days later, he completed the 100 m/4 × 100 m double once again, anchoring Canada to their first ever Olympic 4 × 100 m title in a national record of 37.69 seconds.
After the end of the 1996 Summer Olympics, American Sportscaster Bob Costas claimed that 200 m gold medalist Michael Johnson was faster than Bailey because Johnson's 200 m time (19.32 Secs.) split time of ( first 100m 10.12s and second 100m of 9.20s) was shorter than Bailey's 100 m time (9.84). This started a debate on whether Johnson or Bailey was the real "World's Fastest Man", which in turn resulted in a 150m race between the two, in which Bailey won after Johnson allegedly injured his hamstring.
