Antigua & BarbudaBiography
Bailey specializes in the 100 metres. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremonies of the 2004, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics and was 100m semi-finalist at the 2008 Beijing. He came to prominence in 2009 with a 100 m win in the IAAF Golden League and a fourth-place finish at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. He won bronze over 60 metres at the 2010 World Indoors in Doha.
His personal best of 9.91 seconds is the Antiguan national record over 100 m. He also holds 100-yard dash (9.30) and rarely contested 150m (14.88) Antigua records.
PERSONAL BESTS
100 Metres: 9.91 (2009) NR
200 Metres: 20.40 (2014)
400 Metres: 48.56 (2016)
4x100 Metres Relay: 38.01 (2015)
4x200 Metres Relay: 1:24.33 (2017)
TRIVIA
♦ Bailey represented Antigua and Barbuda at the Olympics four times (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), also twice in Commonwealth Games (2006, 2014).
♦ He took up running at the age of 11, but preferring cricket and football, he only became a serious athlete at the age of 16. (Glasgow 2014 athlete profile)
♦ In Beijing at the 2008 Olympics, he competed at the 100 metres sprint and placed second in his heat, just four-hundredths of a second after Usain Bolt in a time of 10.24 seconds. He qualified for the second round in which he improved his time to 10.23 seconds. However, he was unable to qualify for the semi-finals as he finished in fourth place after Asafa Powell, Walter Dix, and Derrick Atkins. (Beijing 2008 athlete biography)
♦ He is a former Antigua Grammar School (AGS) student and says that he is eager to pass on his knowledge and experience to the next and future generations of Antiguan sprinters, as mentor and coach for the young elite athletes coming up. (Observer media interview)
♦ At the end of 2018, he announced that he is not going to finish competing fully but will no longer represent his country at international meets. “After 20 years of representing Antigua and Barbuda, I think I have come to a conclusion to put up certain competitions where Olympics and World Championships are concerned to represent Antigua and Barbuda. I think it’s too much [financially] for me right now and I think that I’ve done exceptionally well to represent the country,” he said. (Observer media interview)
Text by Engin Eryigit