Donovan Bailey

In 2004 he married British born Realtor Michelle Mullin, his girlfriend of 12 years, in the Half Moon Hotel, Montego Bay, Jamaica. He presently lives with Michelle and daughter Adrienna in his home in Oakville, Ontario.

He was born on December 16, 1967, in Manchester, Jamaica, to George Bailey and his wife Daisy as one of their five sons. He would wake up with the first light of the day and take care of the pigs, chickens and goats of his family and then attend school.

In 1981 he immigrated to Canada to live with his father in Oakville, a suburban town in Southern Ontario. There he joined the ‘Queen Elizabeth Park High School’ and became a part of the track team of the school.

When he was 16 he participated in a 100m dash, which he completed in 10.65s. However he was more of a basketball enthusiast than a sprinter.

After completing high school education he attended ‘Sheridan College’, Oakville and studied economics. In college he participated in the basketball team playing forward for one season.

He received a diploma in business administration following which he ventured in marketing and investment-consulting business. He also ran an import-export clothing business. He bought his own house in Oakville at 22 years of age and owned a Porsche 911 convertible.

However among all these he always harboured his love for sports that saw him entering sprint races occasionally. Gradually he started to train himself seriously in the sports and in 1991 he started taking part in different 100m sprints as a part-timer. That year he emerged winner of the 60m dash at the Ontario indoor championships.

In August 1991 he bagged a silver medal in 4 × 100 m relay in the Pan American Games held at Havana, Cuba.

He was inducted as a member of the Canadian team at the World Championships in 1993, where he was introduced to imminent American track and field coach Dan Pfaff. Bailey started training under Pfaff and with time improved on his technique and style, which led to improving his starts as also consistency in his pace throughout the run.

The 100m dash was structured by Bailey as 20 m of start, next 50 m of acceleration and last 30 m of relaxation.