Refusing to Settle for Second Best with Donavan Bailey

In this video interview, Donovan Bailey, Olympic gold medal sprinter, discusses his career, his thoughts about success and his message to young athletes.
Bailey is in Calgary speaking Tuesday April 30 at the annual Champion Chats fundraiser for Classroom Champions. He’s also guest speaker Thursday May 30 at the Calgary Italian Sportsmen’s Dinner.
HERE’S THE PUBLICIST MATERIAL FOR HIS BOOK
A memoir of Olympic glory, the value of mentorship and the courage to champion your own excellence, from the long-reigning world’s fastest man, Canadian sprinting legend Donovan Bailey.
From the lush fields of his boyhood in Jamaica, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada’s most thriving cultural mosaics, to his sprint toward double Olympic gold for Canada in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he also learned that in the bureaucratic world of Canadian sports, an athlete who didn’t come up in the system needed to take charge of his fate if he was going to become the world’s best. As he ascended from outsider to dominant athlete, others didn’t always understand the rigour at work behind Bailey’s confident demeanor. He’d learned from watching Muhammad Ali that a champion needed to act like a champion. But media grew fixated on the sprinter’s immodesty, the likes of which they never saw 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 Canada’s subtle racism and contradicted the prevailing idea most Canadians had of their country, he left in his wake a media uproar and cracked wide open the nation’s moral complacency.
In addition to his unforgettable 100-metre and 4×100 relay gold-medal sprints 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 was no disputing the result.
Bailey had been coached in success before he was seriously coached in athletics. Following the lead of his father, a machinist-turned-real estate investor, Bailey became a millionaire by the age of 21, an experience he continues to draw on as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Frank about his dominance on the track and unapologetic for expecting as much of those around him as he expects of himself, Undisputed is an athlete’s story that refuses to settle for second best.
Donovan Bailey
PRESS RELEASE
Calgary, AB – The annual Champion Chats fundraiser luncheon held April 30, 2024 at Hyatt Regency Calgary is now sold out. At over 55 tables of guests, this year’s Champion Chats will be the biggest ever and brings together over 450 of Calgary business leaders, Olympians and Paralympians, and community leaders to support the work of Classroom Champions, a non-profit dedicated to providing specialized programming for high-needs schools across Western Canada – and across North America – by partnering students and classrooms with athlete mentors.
“This year’s event is the biggest one yet with dozens of CEOs joining us for this incredible afternoon meant to educate and inspire us while providing needed funds for programs close to home,” said Steve Mesler, President and CEO of Classroom Champions. “It’s clear that there is a lot of excitement about hearing from our stellar line-up of athletes who will speak about their own experiences achieving personal excellence.”
The 2024 event panel includes:
Donovan Bailey: Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional athletes of all time, Bailey won a gold medal for Canada in the men’s 100m at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games and set a world record with a time of 9.84 seconds. He works to uplift organizations that aspire to achieve greatness. In October 2023, he released his memoir, “Undisputed”.
Luke Willson: As a Canadian former professional football player, Luke played tight end in the
National Football League (NFL) and is one of the few Canadian athletes ever to win a Super Bowl. He spent his first five NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks where he was a fan favourite, winning Super Bowl XLVIII with the team. He retired from the NFL in 2021 and is an NFL analyst on TSN.
Waneek Horn-Miller: As one of Canada’s few Indigenous Olympians, Waneek has used her unique experiences in life and sport combined with a passion for her culture to influence Indigenous and non-Indigenous leadership in sport and wellness. A Mohawk from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal, Waneek was behind the lines during the Oka crisis in 1990 when a Canadian soldier’s bayonet stabbed her. It was a near-death experience that marked a turning point in her life. Waneek is one of North America’s most inspiring female Indigenous speakers.
Long-time panel moderator for Champion Chats, Tara Slone is back to host the panel and will lead the conversation about what it takes to achieve excellence, both personally and as a community — a theme that is sure to resonate with the entrepreneurs and leaders in the room.
Donovan Bailey adds, “I’m thrilled to be a part of this year’s fundraiser and am honoured to work with Classroom Champions to raise awareness about the critical need to provide kids with skills to meet their challenges. I look forward to inspiring Calgarians and supporting Classroom Champions’ great work.”
Champion Chats will also celebrate the 25 Calgary-based energy companies known as the “Energizing Communities Collective” who are focused on their commitment to creating a long-term positive impact within their operating areas across B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Gold members of the Collective include Athabasca Oil Corporation (new), ARC Resources, Crescent Point, Headwater Exploration, PETRONAS (new), Spartan Delta, Pembina Pipeline Corporation, Tamarack Valley Energy, and Tourmaline Oil Corp.
“It’s amazing to see how our locally based charity is growing at such a rapid pace and to see how our impact extends to classrooms across North America and around the globe. The local business community is making that happen, says Mesler.” He adds that Champion Chats is an opportunity to celebrate the non-profit’s extraordinary momentum.
Funds raised at Champion Chats will directly benefit children by providing them with athlete mentors, as well as supporting teachers with the Classroom Champions curriculum.

More about Classroom Champions
Classroom Champions is a nonprofit charity that has impacted over a million students to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically through the mentorship and mindsets of world-class athletes. Working with 300+ Olympic, Paralympic, university student-athletes and professional athletes who volunteer as mentors and over 5,000 teachers, Classroom Champions programs and curriculum has worked with predominantly underserved, rural, and Indigenous communities across the continent. Students participating in Classroom Champions see significant improvements in the classroom, teachers see improved engagement, and athlete mentors learn new skills to prepare for life after sport. Learn more at: www.classroomchampions.org.
Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list. He was also named by RETHINK to its global list of Top Retail Experts 2024.
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