Donovan Bailey

thumb|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. Quotes Okay, you’ve got to work on getting out of the blocks and transitioning, because I had a horrible start. I got some world records along the way over the 50m, beating guys who were world champions. It was really just working on the craft itself. I got injured just before the Olympics. There were a lot of mind games being played. Linford Christie was the reigning champion and I respect him to the nth degree. He was fantastic at executing his race. I had beaten Linford a couple of times, but, in our last race going into the Olympics, I'm like: “There's no way that I'm going to lose to him.” He got out of the blocks. I thought: “I’m going to catch him, come hell or high water,” and in trying to do that I ended up over-striding. I flew back to see Dr Mark Lindsay. I call him “Holy Hands” because he is probably the best soft tissue specialist in the world. I believed that I was going to be okay. He went through it all, breaking down the inflammation on a daily basis, working five to six hours per day: maybe a little weights, walking, stretching. I'd be in freezing water for five minutes and then be in boiling hot water for another five minutes. We were doing all kinds of things that allowed us to be back. I flew in from Texas because I was training there but every one of my friends and maybe every single person I grew up with in Oakville, Ontario – which is about 30km outside of Toronto – were in Atlanta, so it was a home Olympics for me. I got into Atlanta Stadium and saw a sea of Canadian flags, from the front seats all the way up to the rafters. Ato Boldon believed he could win. Linford believed he could win. Frankie Fredericks believed he could win. But I knew I was going to win because I'd spent the entire year perfecting exactly what I was going to do. In Lausanne, Dan and I had discussed breaking the world record there. And he said to me: “Do you want to break it now or do you want to wait for Atlanta?” I said: “I’m going to wait.” I was nervous at every major championships, but only for the first race, so I could barely sleep the night before the Olympics started. As soon as I got out and touched the track, that allowed me to be comfortable. Before semi-finals and finals, I would usually sleep like a baby. The final had two false starts but I don't think it mattered. I was sixth after 40m but I just stayed relaxed and stayed tall. It's all reactive. There are two things that you cannot do in the 100m – think and run at the same time. So I ran. And I won. Donovan Bailey: my greatest race, December 23 2023 External links Category:Sportspeople from Jamaica Category:1967 births Category:Track and field athletes Category:Immigrants to Canada Category:Living people Category:Olympic gold medalists Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics