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The men’s 100-metre competition gets underway at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo later today, a competition with a lasting legacy for all Canadians.
Atlanta 1996. Donovan Bailey. 9.84.
While that dramatic event celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this month, for Bailey, the outcome was never in doubt.
“For me it was never wide open,” Bailey said while chatting to the Green Zone earlier this year. “The only thing that was going to prevent me from winning was myself. My confidence was at its highest.”
A stacked lineup in the final saw Bailey joined by Namibian Frankie Fredericks, Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon, and Linford Christie from Great Britain.
It had not been the easiest passage for Bailey in the earlier rounds, trailing Christie in the quarterfinals, and false starting in the semifinal before finishing second to Fredericks.
False starts would play a huge part in the final too, but Bailey remained unfazed.
“I knew exactly what was going to happen. As the false starts happened I actually got more relaxed,” Bailey recalled.
“Nothing was going to bother me. In fact, before the race where we all went off, I said to the guys, ‘Relax, it’s going to be over in a minute.’”
Defending-champion Christie false-started out of the competition in controversial manner, and Boldon jumped the gun too, but the runners got off the fourth time.
“I made an incredible mistake out of the blocks, the worst 30 metres I had ran all season,” Bailey said, something that still frustrates him when he watches back to this day.
“They’re the very best of the best, (but) I knew I could beat them at any time. Me at my best versus them at their best, there is absolutely no competition. It’s no different to later on all of us watching Usain Bolt.”
Bailey’s late-race surge saw him come through the field to take gold in that world-record time now etched into Canadian sporting folklore.
“The 100 metres is the culmination of months and years of monotonous training, nutrition, therapy, weight training. It’s the sum total of an incredible amount of time that’s been put in to work to perfection,” Bailey said.
Bailey was born in Jamaica before moving to Canada, and the Olympic champion explains how after the win he saw his father cry for the first time, something he describes as one of the greatest compliments you can receive.
“Most immigrant fathers want their kid to be a lawyer, doctor or professional. I was a banker so he was happy with that,” Bailey said.
“When I went to track and field he wasn’t very happy. He didn’t really understand that this is sports and an incredible legacy that I can create. When I won I think he finally realized that this was the very top.”
That legacy, both of the gold and world record, is something that Bailey still feels every day, even 25 years later.
“I get to be serenaded by amazing Canadian fans every day. The definition really was reaching that goal,” Bailey said.
“No matter where you come from or what you do, you can get to the very top. I was very blessed.”
Andre De Grasse will lead the challenge for Team Canada at Tokyo 2020, with Bismark Boateng and Gavin Smellie also hoping to make their mark on the iconic event.
Listen to the Green Zone’s chat with Bailey earlier this year – https://iono.fm/e/988216