Bailey, Donovan

▪ 1997

      At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey won the 100-m dash in 9.84 sec to earn the appellation "the world's fastest man." Then he ran the last leg of the 4 ×100-m relay and helped the Canadian team win a gold medal in that event. These were impressive accomplishments for a man who had emerged as a factor in international track only in 1994 and did not set a world record until 1996.

      Bailey was born on Dec. 16, 1967, in Manchester, Jam., and moved to Oakville, Ont., in 1981 to live with his father. He was on the track team in high school, and at age 16 he ran the 100-m dash in 10.65 sec. He did not pursue running seriously, however, because his first love was basketball. He played forward on the basketball team at Sheridan College, Oakville, where he studied economics. After receiving a diploma in business administration, Bailey started his own marketing and investment-consulting business. Sports became his hobby. He played recreational basketball and occasionally entered sprint races. In 1991 he won the 60-m dash at the Ontario indoor championships. Training only sporadically, Bailey did not make the Canadian track team for the 1991 world championships or the 1992 Olympics.

      In 1993 Bailey was a member of the Canadian track team at the world championships in Stuttgart, Ger. It was there that he met coach Dan Pfaff, who invited Bailey to train with him. After Bailey began training with him in March 1994, first in Baton Rouge, La., and then at the University of Texas at Austin, Pfaff overhauled his technique and helped him polish his style. As a result, Bailey improved his starts and his ability to sustain his speed throughout the race. By the end of 1994, he was ranked eighth in the world in the 100-m dash. He ran the 100 m in less than 10 seconds for the first time in the spring of 1995. In July Bailey set a Canadian record of 9.91 sec at the Canadian track and field championships, and in August he won the 100 m at the world track and field championships in Göteborg, Swed. He set his first world record in 1996 in the 50-m dash at the Reno Air Games.

      Bailey structured his 100-m run as 20 m of start, 50 m of acceleration, and 30 m of relaxation. Shortly after the Atlanta Olympics, he competed again in Europe. He won the 100-m at the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo and the IAAF Grand Prix in Cologne, Ger. Bailey, who developed an interest in the history of track and field and had great respect for those who built the sport, like Jesse Owens, received the Canadian Sport Award in March 1996. (DIANE LOIS WAY)

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