Bailey, Emmanuel McDonald (1920-2013), Harrier and Olympian

• Mac

Born in Hardbargain, Williamsville, Trinidad and Tobago.

The demands of the Second World War along with the quest for international competition saw McDonald Bailey leave for England in 1944 as a member of the Royal Air Force. Almost directly he made his presence felt - he ran at the Royal Air Force athletic championships of 1945 and triumphed in both the 100-yard and 220-yard events to crown himself champion.
And it was from here that his amazing consistency began. He dominated those championships for four consecutive years, winning both sprints on each occasion. He was unbeaten champion when he left the Royal Air Force in 1948.

After winning the sprint 'double' at the British Amateur Athletic championships of 1946 MacDonald Bailey went on to do the same thing for six consecutive years. During this period he was returning times close to the world record: in the range of 9.6 to 9.8 for the 100-yards event, when the world record was 9.4 seconds. He was also recording 21.1 to 21.5 seconds for the 220 yards event, again not far from the world mark.

In 1947, Bailey returned consistently fast times for the 100 yards, and on one occasion he did a world-record 9.4 seconds, deemed to be wind-assisted. In 1947, he also clocked 10.3 seconds for the 100 metres - one-tenth of a second outside of the then world record. His time for the 200 metres was 21.2 seconds.

The British people were clamouring for Bailey to represent Britain in the Olympic Games of 1948, scheduled for London. The pressure on him to run for Britain was nearly as great as Trinidad's indecision on the selection of a team. In the end Bailey had to choose running for Britain or risk sitting out the Olympics.

While 1947 was a magnificent year for MacDonald Bailey, in 1948 he was plagued by injuries. Indeed, he had to fight tenaciously to reach the final of the 100-metres event, in which he finished sixth and last. Soon after the Olympics he returned to full fitness. British athletics then saw the Bailey of old, not only winning every race, but literally running away from the field to take the tape.
His biggest achievement in 1949 was in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he recorded times like 9.5 seconds for the 100 yards event and 10.2 for the 100 metres event. (The time of 10.2 for the 100 metres was the world record for the distance, but his performance was not recognised because the organisers had omitted to install a wind gauge on the track).

He competed for Great Britain in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland, where he won the bronze medal.

He jointly held the 100m world record at 10.2 seconds between 1951 and 1956 and won the sprint double seven times at the AAA Championships.

In 1953 he joined Rugby League side Leigh, but only played one game for them.