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Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a former Canadian athlete.
Born in Manchester, Jamaica, Bailey emigrated from Jamaica to Canada at age 13, and played basketball before his graduation from Queen Elizabeth Park School in Oakville, Ontario. He began competing as a 100 m sprinter part-time in 1991, but he didn't take up the sport seriously until 1994. At that time, he was also a successful stockbroker.
The following year saw his international breakthrough. At the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Bailey won both the 100 metre sprint and the 4 x 100 metre relay titles.
He repeated that double win 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 2nd person to hold all the major titles in the 100 m concurrently (World Champion, Olympic Champion & World Record Holder); Carl Lewis was the first.
Bailey won a third world title in 1997 with the Canadian relay team, while finishing second in the 100 m behind Maurice Greene.
In June of 1997 he raced against Michael Johnson in a 150 m race at Toronto's SkyDome (now Rogers Centre), in a bid to truly determine who was the world's fastest man. He won $2 million for winning that race, in which Johnson pulled up lame at the 100 m mark with an injured quadricep muscle.
After that season, Bailey struggled with injuries and never reached his previous level of performance. He retired from the sport in 2001 having been a five-time World and Olympic champion.
Donovan Bailey set the indoor world record in the 50 metres (5.56A, in Reno, Nevada, in 1996); he now is the joint record holder as Maurice Greene has matched that performance. Bailey is also the Olympic, Commonwealth and Canadian records for the 100 metres1. He has shared the latter title with Bruny Surin since 1999.
He now has his own company called DBX Sport Management, which helps amateur athletes find a way to promote themselves.
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1967 births | Living people | Black Canadians | Canadian athletes at the 1996 Summer Olympics | Olympic gold medalists for Canada | Canadian Sports Hall of Fame | Canadian track and field athletes | Jamaican athletes | Jamaican Canadians | Oakvillians | Ontario sportspeople | Sprinters
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"Donovan Bailey"