Donovan Bailey

At 56 years old, Donovan Bailey has this physical status:

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 100m sprinter part-time, whilst 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 100m at the national championships.

From 1993 to 1994, he competed for Fenerbahçe Athletics. During this time, he claimed a bronze in the 100m and a silver in the 200m at the 1993 national championships, a silver in the 100m 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 100m 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 100m, 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 100m. On July 27, after a very disrupted start to the race, Bailey won the Olympic 100m 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 100m concurrently (World Champion, Olympic Champion & World Record Holder). 6 days later, he completed the 100m/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.

In May 1997 he raced against Michael Johnson in a 150 m race at Toronto's then-SkyDome in a bid to truly determine who the world's fastest man was. 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 m world record holders are traditionally given that unofficial title. Bailey initially refused to take part, stating that "the world's fastest man was decided in Atlanta." Bailey ended up participating and won with a time of 14.99 seconds, receiving $1.5 million.

At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Bailey attempted to defend his 100m 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 4 × 100 m 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 100m, Bailey ran the first leg of the "Dream Team II" in the 4 × 100 m 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.

Bailey and the 4 x 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.

Bailey won a silver medal with the Canadian 4 x 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 x 100 metre relay and it would be his final international medal. Bailey was part of the Canadian 4 x 100 metre relay team at the 1999 World Championships in Seville but the team was disqualified in the first round of heats.

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.

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