Let’s remember McDonald Bailey in 2012

McDonald Bailey was certainly among the most famous names in British sport when Britain last hosted the Olympics, in 1948. Yet today he has almost been forgotten. It’s not how it should have been. He should have been our Jesse Owens.

Look at a photo of the British Olympic team of 1948 and Bailey stands out as the only black face in a monochrome sea. He was, you see, from Trinidad. He could have run for them in the Games had they decided earlier whether or not to send a team. But instead he took up the British offer, and became a crowd favourite and the face of British athletics at the time. This fame, however, had little to do with his race, but more because he was among the fastest men on earth, jointly holding the 100m world record (of 10.2 seconds) with Owens himself. 

Sadly, however, the London Olympics were not his finest hour.