Down, but not out

Bailey vows to come back after Goodwill defeat

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Posted: Friday July 24, 1998 07:04 PM

Bailey: "I just need to be in the right place at the right time with the best conditions and great competition" AP

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) -- Canada's Donovan Bailey on Friday vowed to bounce back after his Goodwill Games loss and the Atlanta Olympic 100 meters gold medalist said he was getting close to being back at his best again.

Bailey, holder of the world best of 9.84 seconds for the blue ribbon event, added that he was not worried about trailing in a disappointing seventh in the Goodwill Games 100 meter on Tuesday, a race won by his American arch-rival and reigning world champion Maurice Greene.

"It was just a bad race, that's all. Actually I thought there was a false start but when the gun goes you can't call back the race yourself," Bailey said in Barcelona.

The 30-year-old sprinter starts his campaign of European racing at an International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) Permit Meeting in the 1992 Olympic stadium Saturday.

He commented that although his results this summer have been less than impressive, as a result of injury problems stemming from a car crash last October, spectators at the IAAF Golden League meetings in Monte Carlo and Zurich next month could witness the Donovan Bailey of old.

"I have only been training properly for three weeks. I can get back into world record shape but I've never predicted a world record. I just need to be in the right place at the right time with the best conditions and great competition," Bailey added.

He criticized the confrontational early season talk by Greene and his Trinidadian training partner Ato Bolden of breaking Bailey's world record, set when winning the Olympic title, saying that he hoped events had now proved that his mark was better than they thought.

"We all train hard to achieve the ultimate and as part of how we train we have a lot of dreams - but to say something is weak and not particularly tough to beat is not a good idea," commented Bailey.

However in a year when there is no Olympic, no world championships and he is still undecided about whether to go to the World Cup or the Commonwealth Games in September at the end of a long summer, Bailey admitted that he is thinking more about recharging his batteries rather than world records during the rest of 1998.

"I think this is a year when I will be taking it steadily. I have been climbing since 1994 and been exceptionally consistent so this year I have to rest a little and get a good base in order to prepare and compete at the World Championships next year."

"Last year maybe I was concentrating too much on breaking the world record and not thinking about having fun. This year I remembered it was all about having fun.

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