Remembering the wacky Donovan Bailey vs. Michael Johnson 150m race
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You can blame Bob Costas for many with this.
Long before “hot take” joined the lexicon, the NBC that is normally astute broadcaster a scorcher when comparing the two best sprinters at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. If, Costas proposed, you take the world-record 19.32 seconds that American Michael Johnson ran in the men’s 200 metres and cut it in half, that’s 9.66 — considerably faster than the world-record 9.84 that Canadian Donovan Bailey laid down to win the 100m. Ergo, doesn’t that make Johnson the World’s Fastest Man?
All due respect to Bob, but that’s not how this works. For one, the WFM that is unofficial title constantly attended the champion of this 100m. As well as, a athlete that is 200m the second half of their race with a running “start.” So, no, you can’t just divide the right amount of time in half. Bailey reacted to Costas’ voodoo mathematics a bit more bluntly, dismissing it as “an individual who knew absolutely nothing about track dealing with it with a complete lot of people listening.”
No one really took Costas’ calculation seriously, but still, a seed was planted. Who was actually faster? Was it Johnson, who’d made history in Atlanta by becoming the first (and still only) man to win gold in both the 400m and 200m during the same Olympics? Or Bailey, whom’d won the Games’ marquee event in world-record time before anchoring Canada to gold into the relay that is 4x100m? Predictably, someone’s answer to that relevant concern depended a whole lot in the passport inside their pocket. Many Us americans could possibly choose Johnson, whilst the majority that is vast of backed Bailey — and seemed insulted that anyone would dare suggest otherwise.
WATCH | CBC Sports’ Rob Pizzo takes you behind the scenes of Bailey vs. Johnson:
To be fair to those Americans and to Costas, there was a kernel of truth to his galaxy-brain theory about Johnson. Putting our Canadian pride aside, the man with the golden shoes was objectively
the star of the Atlanta Games. Competing on home soil, he pulled off the historic men’s 200-400 while that is double a world record into the previous and an Olympic record within the latter. That is a hell of an account. Yes, Bailey’s success ended up being a postage-stamp minute right here in Canada — among the athletic achievements that are greatest in the history of the country. But, if we’re being honest, Atlanta ’96 was the Michael Johnson Olympics.Of course, that did nothing to cool the Bailey vs. Johnson debate in the wake of those Games. The subjects even added fuel to the fire, with Bailey saying “the media that are american wanting to make
a superstar. But there is two events that are glamour the Olympics, the 100 metres and the 4×100 relay, and we Canadians smoked them in both.” Later, CBC Sports broadcaster Brian Williams asked Johnson point blank, “Michael, who’s the man that is fastest on the planet?” Johnson responded “we have always been.”[Johnson]Luckily, it was one activities argument that, with just a little imagination, might be settled for good. And that is how exactly we got among the weirdest spectacles that are athletic memory.
The occasion almost dropped aside during the minute that is last, thinking he’d negotiated a track with a 50-metre curve to start followed by a 100-metre straightaway, Bailey showed up to find the layout was 75m/75m. Donovan nearly bailed at that true point before agreeing to just do it utilizing the competition. But he had been careful to hedge against a defeat that is potential stating publicly that he would be running “under duress.”
Meanwhile, European track fans and sportocrats turned up their noses at all those gauche North Americans lapping up this silliness that is unsanctioned. “this is certainly… a lot more like one thing away from a circus,” sniffed the Italian president of track’s globe body that is governing. “And we’re not interested in it.”
But, man, were Canadians ever interested. Some 30,000 spectators filed into the massive baseball/football stadium, and 2.5 million people watched the CBC’s live broadcast of what felt like a title fight that is heavyweight. You might simply sense the Euros’ disapproval whenever crowd that is boisterousn’t quiet down as expected for the start.
WATCH | Bailey vs. Johnson, 150-metre showdown in 1997:
Donovan Bailey vs. Michael Johnson: The strangest race
When the gun went off (the runners seemed to hear it just fine), Bailey electrified the fans by quickly overtaking Johnson, who began a few steps ahead on the start that is staggered. The Canadian hit the straightaway with a lead that is growing at which point Johnson suddenly pulled up, signaling a (dubious) leg injury. This turn that is stunning of ended up being really expected by CBC Sports’ TV manufacturers. Comprehending the enormous (and extremely delicate) egos of this two guys rushing, that they had their cameramen rehearse shooting a pull-up. Searching straight back, between that possibility and Bailey’s laying the groundwork for blaming the track if he destroyed, anywhere near this much should are clear: neither man ended up being ever planning to lose this competition square and fair.
After Bailey crossed the line victorious (in 14.99 seconds, by the way), the still-jacked-up hero that is canadian into their rival in a legendary post-race meeting with CBC Sports’ Mark Lee. “He did not pull up at all. He is simply a chicken. He is afraid to reduce,” Bailey spat. “we think exactly what he have to do, we ought to over run this race again, so I can kick his ass one more time.”
When asked straight-up by a reporter at the ensuing press conference, “Were you genuinely injured or did you throw the race?” Johnson replied with a terse “Next question.” So, in a way, we may never know for certain whether it was a injury that is legit perhaps not. That is alright, however. Most of us have actually a fairly idea that is good of happened on that track 25 years ago today. Just like we knew who the world’s man that is fastest to be real in ’96.
: CBC Sports
