Donovan Bailey

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 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.

Early Life

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.

Bailey immigrated to Canada at age 12 and played basketball before graduating from Queen Elizabeth Park High School in Oakville, Ontario.

Career

Early career

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. 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 at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia.

1995: Breakthrough

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. 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.

1997 World Championships

At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Bailey attempted to defend his 100 m title, but was beaten by Maurice Greene and was forced to settle for the silver medal in 9.91 seconds. However, along with his Canadian teammates, he was able to defend Canada's title in 37.86 seconds, the fastest time of the year. One of his last meets of the season was at the ISTAF Berlin; after finishing 2nd in the 100 m, Bailey ran the first leg of the "Dream Team II" in the relay: Carl Lewis' last race of his career. With Leroy Burrell on the 2nd leg, Frankie Fredericks on the 3rd, and Lewis on the anchor, the team won in 38.24 seconds, a meeting record.

1998 Goodwill Games

Bailey and the 4 × 100 metre Canadian relay team won a silver medal with a time of 38.23 at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, finishing behind the United States. Bailey ruptured his Achilles tendon while playing basketball during the post season of 1998, which effectively began the end of his athletics career.

1999 Pan American Games and World Championships

Bailey won a silver medal with the Canadian 4 × 100 metre relay team with a time of 38.49 at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, finishing behind Brazil. The silver medal matched his first international medal he won eight years earlier at the 1991 Pan American Games in the 4 × 100 metre relay and it would be his final international medal. Bailey was part of the Canadian 4 × 100 metre relay team at the 1999 World Championships in Seville but the team was disqualified in the first round of heats.

2000 Summer Olympics and 2001 World Championships

He made a second attempt in the 2000 Summer Olympics, but suffered from pneumonia and dropped out during the rounds. He retired from the sport in 2001 after the World Championships in Edmonton, having been a three-time World and 2 time Olympic champion.

Post-retirement

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

He has been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame twice: in 2004 as an individual, and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4 × 100 relay team.

In August 2008 Bailey began work as a track commentator for CBC Television at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He estimated that had Usain Bolt not slowed down near the end of the 100 m dash (which he still won in record time), he could have set a time of 9.55 seconds. He returned as the track analyst for CBC's coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

In 2010, Bailey was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards presented by Canadian Immigrant Magazine.

In 2014, Bailey pleaded guilty to a drinking and driving charge from 2012. This was the third driving-related incident for Bailey. In 1998 he crashed his car into a concrete utility pole and was fined $200 for failing to report an accident. In 2001, Bailey was fined $975 for driving 200 km/h on a 100 km/h road in Toronto.

In 2016, he was made a member of the Order of Ontario. In 2017, Canada's Walk of Fame honoured him with a star.

In 2018, it was reported that Bailey had provided his entire athlete's trust of $3.75 million to Aird & Berlis lawyer Stuart Bollefer, who invested it in what was determined to be a tax evasion scheme by the Canadian government. Bailey lost the full amount due to the scheme, however the courts ordered Aird & Berlis to pay all outstanding taxes due to their negligence.

In 2022, Bailey was named an officer to the Order of Canada.

Personal bests

{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"

!Event

!Time (seconds)

!Venue

!Date

|50 metres

|5.56 20px|World Record

|Reno, Nevada, United States

|February 9, 1996

|60 metres

|6.51

|Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

|February 8, 1997

|100 metres

|9.84 20px|World Record (1996–1999)<br>20px|Olympic Record (1996–2008)

|Atlanta, Georgia, United States

|July 27, 1996

|150 meters

|14.99

|Toronto, Ontario, Canada

|June 1, 1997

|200 metres

|20.14

|Bislett Games, Oslo, Norway

|July 4, 1997

Track records

As of 9 September 2024, Bailey holds the following track records for 100 metres.

{| class="wikitable" style= "text-align: center"

!Location

!Time

!Windspeed<br>m/s

!Date

| Abbotsford, BC || 9.97 || +2.2 || 02/06/1996

| Atlanta, GA || 9.84<br>PB || +0.7 || 27/07/1996

| Burnaby, BC || 9.99 || 0.0 || 18/05/1997

| Cologne || 9.99 || –0.7 || 24/08/1997

| Duisburg || 9.88 || +4.0 || 12/06/1996

| Gothenburg || 9.97 || +1.0 || 06/08/1995

| Ottawa || 10.05 || +1.8 || 30/06/1994