Daniel Bailey - Career

Career

Bailey represented Antigua and Barbuda at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. In Beijing 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.

Bailey made a strong start to the 2009 athletics season, recording a personal best of 10.02 seconds and a windy 9.93 seconds in the 100 m in early May. He broke new ground at the South American Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa meet, becoming the first athlete to run under ten seconds on the continent. His run of 9.99 seconds (achieved despite a headwind) was a new personal best. He again lowered this mark to 9.96 seconds in Rome at the Golden Gala meet and a week later in Paris ran 9.91 seconds, to finish second to his training partner Usain Bolt, setting a new national record for Antigua and Barbuda.

He won the bronze medal in the 60 metres at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships. Finishing in 6.57 seconds, he became Antigua's first ever medallist in the event and said he hoped the medal win would bode well for the summer. He competed on the 2010 IAAF Diamond League circuit, taking third over 100 m at the British Grand Prix and Adidas Grand Prix (running a wind-assisted 9.92 seconds at the latter meet). He was fourth at the Memorial van Damme and had a season's best of 10 seconds flat at the Meeting Areva in Paris, where he was also fourth. His major competition performances that year were at the 2010 CAC Games, where he was the 100 m silver medallist behind Churandy Martina, and the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup, where he was also runner-up against Christophe Lemaitre. He also led-off the winning Americas relay team at the Continental Cup.

Missing the 2011 indoor season, he opened the year in Jamaica and achieved a personal best over 200 metres with a run of 20.51 sec at the UTech Classic in April. A wind-assisted run of 9.94 sec in the 100 m followed at the Jamaica Invitational. He headed to Europe with his training partner Yohan Blake (another trainee of Glen Mills), and his trip was highlighted by win in 9.97 seconds in Strasbourg. The 24-year-old saw his time in Europe as a way of accustoming himself to competing abroad: "Here I learned how to acclimatise and cope with different eating habits".