The Bailey-Johnson 150-metre race was a track and field event that occurred in Toronto, Canada on 31 May 1997. In an effort to settle the dispute regarding who was the world's fastest man, a race was organized between 1996 Olympic 100 m champion Donovan Bailey from Canada, and 1996 Olympic 200 m and 400 m champion Michael Johnson, from the United States.
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The unofficial title of "world's fastest man" typically goes to the Olympic 100 m champion.
In 1996, Bob Costas of NBC, Bill Gairdner, and others[1], pointed out that Johnson's gold-medal performance in the 200 m (19.32 seconds) was faster than Bailey's 100 m performance (9.84 seconds) in that 19.32 divided by two is 9.66.[2] However, the 200 m time almost always yields a "faster" average speed than a 100 m race time since the initial slow speed at the start is spread out over the longer distance.[3] In other words, the second 100 m is run with a "flying start", without the slow acceleration phase of the first 100 m and without the greater than 0.10 s reaction time of the start. In fact, each 200 m gold medalist from 1968, when fully electronic timing was introduced, to 1996 had a "faster" average speed at the Olympics, save one, yet there had been no controversy over the title of "world's fastest man" previously.
In 1997, Johnson began performing television promotions in which he billed himself as "the world's fastest man." Bailey initially refused to challenge, stating that "the world's fastest man was decided in Atlanta". After verbal sparring between the pair, a made-for-TV, 150-metre race at Toronto's SkyDome was scheduled.
The 150 m distance consisted of 75 m of curved track and a 75 m straight, a configuration that was unique to this unsanctioned event. Bailey revealed before the race his surprise at the configuration; nevertheless he opted to run anyway. The runners were positioned with Bailey running in the track's 3rd lane with Johnson in the next outer lane (4th lane).
The race was billed as a competition for the title of "World's Fastest Man", but it failed to live up to expectations when Johnson (well behind Bailey at the time), pulled up lame at the 110-metre mark claiming to have injured his quadriceps. Johnson appeared to grab his quadriceps and then slowed to a stop before squatting on the track in distress.
Towards the end of the race, Bailey looked back at Johnson and waved for him to "come on" believing he had simply quit the race. Bailey finished with a time of 14.99 seconds and walked away with the $1.5 million prize. Johnson himself received $500,000.
Due to the injury, Johnson was unable to compete in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and could thus not qualify for the IAAF World Championships later that year. The IAAF invented a new policy of giving a "bye" to the defending champions essentially to allow Johnson to compete (thus not losing the star appeal of the double world record holder). Johnson successfully defended his world championship in the 400 metres in 1997.[4]