Bailey-Johnson 150-metre race

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bailey-Johnson 150-metre race was a track and field event that occurred in Canada on May 31, 1997. In an effort to settle the dispute regarding who the world’s fastest man is, a race was created between 1996 Olympic 100m champion Donovan Bailey from Canada, and 1996 Olympic 200m (and 400m) champion Michael Johnson from the United States.

After verbal sparring between the pair, a made-for-TV, 150-metre showcase at Toronto's SkyDome (now renamed as the Rogers Center) was scheduled.

The 150 m distance consisted of 75 m of curving track and 75 m of straight track, a configuration that was unique to this unsanctioned event. Bailey revealed before the race his surprise at the configuration as he had been training on a track consisting of 75 m of straight away followed by 75 m of curving track; nevertheless, Bailey opted to run the race. The runners were positioned with Bailey running on the inside track and Johnson ahead of Bailey on the outer track.

The race was billed as a competition for the title of "World's Fastest Man", but failed to live up to expectations when Johnson pulled up lame at around the 100-meter mark with an injured quadriceps, allowing Bailey to easily win the race (and the $1.5 million prize). It should be noted that Johnson had been striding as normal until Bailey passed him coming out of the curve. Johnson's pace then markedly slacked as he jogged onward to the finish. Towards the end of the race, Bailey even looked back at Johnson and waved for him to "come on" (perhaps because he believed Johnson had simply quit the race). Only following the finish did Johnson begin to favor his foot leading some to question the veracity of his injury; nonetheless, Johnson recovered and won his third 400 m World Champion title that very year. Bailey finished the race with a time of 14.99 sec.

The event was given honorable mention in the CBC’s 10 Most Anticipated Sports Events. [1]