Donovan Bailey - 10 years ago

[Double J]

The Justin Gatlin thread reminded me that I wanted to commemorate the 10th anniversary Thursday of the night Donovan Bailey became the fastest man in the world by winning the 100-metre dash in Atlanta, setting a new world record and an Olympic standard that still stands.

He says today he could have and probably should have run even faster than the 9.84 he clocked. We'll never know.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...id=1044529390736&call_pagepath=Sports/Cricket

"Atlanta was the fastest recorded time, but I went faster in practice, and I ran more perfect in other races," said Bailey. "It was a terrible start, a good middle, and it was an OK last 30 metres.

"It was by no stretch of the imagination. . . probably not even in the top 10 as far as a satisfactory run where I had a good start and a good middle and a good finish."

 

[Canuck Pappy]

The memorable picture of Bailey winning, taken by the Toronto Star's Bernard Weil, won a CNA award. I may have my facts mixed up but I believe that was the first time a CNA award winner was digital. Shows how far digital has come in ten years.

 

[Columbo]

Eddie Murphy's brother, Michael Johnson, with his arms up will always be the indelible image from that year for me.