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Biography
It is not easy to become the fastest man on earth with the weight of a country on your shoulders, but Donovan Bailey did just that.
Born in Manchester, Jamaica, Donovan moved to Canada with his family at the age of 13 years old. Little did he or the country know what this standout basketball player with a mouth as fast as his legs would be able to accomplish in 9.84 seconds on the track. For a country yearning for a hero following the steroid scandal of past Canadian Olympian Ben Johnson, Donovan was superman.
In late July 1996 Donovan took gold not once but twice at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He won the 100m in Olympic and World record time. Another gold came in the 4x100-meter relay where Donovan ran the anchor leg for the all Caribbean born Canadian team.
Donovan’s rise to the top was astounding considering he was more focused on basketball during his high school and college career. As a freshman at Sheridan College he was a forward on the basketball team. His athleticism was so remarkable he bears a scar on his forehead from when he hit it on the rim.
After one season, Donovan decided to turn in his sneakers for penny loafers. Focused on his education, Donovan graduated from Sheridan with a degree in business administration and went on to create his own fortune as a real estate investor. Remarkably, Donovan purchased a Porsche 911 with cash at the age of 22.
Despite a substantial cash flow Donovan felt confident that he could match his success in the business sector on the track. Away from competitive track for five years, Donovan’s training started light, but accelerated when he met legendary coach Don Pfaff at the 1993 World Championship. Pfaff saw Donovan’s raw potential and invited him down to Louisiana State University to train where he was now coaching.
As he became more mechanically sound and physically fit Donovan began to shave tenths of second off of his 100m times. Soon he was running the 100m in sub 10-seconds and was prepared to vie for any and all championships.
In 1995 he won the World Championships in Goteburg, Sweeden with a time of 9.97 in the 100m. Later that year he bested that mark with a time of 9.91 at the Canadian Championships.
Donovan was starting to draw attention, but Canada remained weary of a sprinter who seemed too good to be true. Just eight years before the country had to deal with the shame of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s gold medal and Olympic record being stripped for steroid use. It didn’t help that both Donovan and Johnson hailed from Jamaica.
The gold medal victory in Atlanta and the subsequent victory over USA’s Michael Johnson in a made-for-television race instilled a sense of patriotism in Canadians and made Donovan a national hero.
Now a family man, Donovan has returned to the business realm and spends much of his time with his two children. A great deal of his effort is also poured in to the Donovan Bailey Fund which was developed in 2002 to aid the development of Canada’s most talented amateur athletes. Donovan is also active in Big Brothers Big Sisters as well as a donor to The Canadian Cancer Society.
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