| Summary: |
"From chasing a soccer ball through the fields of his native Jamaica as a child, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada's most thriving cultural mosaics, to his run toward Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he soon learned he needed to be his own toughest critic if he was going to be the very best. As he rose quickly to prominence in Canada's track scene, others didn't always understand the rigour at work behind his confident demeanour. Media reported, not his determination, but that he was immodest in a way they weren't accustomed to seeing from Canadian athletes, especially track athletes in the wake of the Ben Johnson doping scandal at Seoul in 1988. Bailey was having none of it, and when he called out racism in Canada in a way that contradicted the prevailing idea most Canadians had of their country, he started a media uproar and cracked wide open the nation's moral complacency. Aside from his 100-metre and 4x100 relay golds in Atlanta, Bailey's track career was a litany of records and rare accomplishments, including his audacious 1997 race in Toronto's SkyDome against American 200-metre Olympic champion Michael Johnson to determine who was really the world's fastest man. There would be no disputing the result. For all his talent, Bailey was coached in success long before he was coached in athletics. Following the footsteps of his father, a real estate investor, Bailey was a self-made millionaire by the age of 21 and continued to apply a disciplined mentality to everything he did in life. An Olympic champion, yes, but one mentored in the ways of his mind well before he was taught how to optimize the gifts of his body. Frank about the way Bailey dominated the 100-metre (not even his favourite sport), and unapologetic for pushing those around him as hard as he pushed himself, Undisputed is an athlete's story told with the kind of entertaining and inspiring verve very few of his peers can match."-- |
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