Angela BAILEY

England-born Angela Bailey moved to Canada in 1974 and took up track as a high school student. By the age of 16 she was the Canadian junior national champion in the 100 metres and already representing her nation on the international stage, winning silver in the 4x100 metre relay alongside Marjorie Bailey, Margaret Howe, and Patty Loverock. She also competed in the 100 and 200 metre events, being eliminated in the semi-finals and the heats respectively. She was selected to attend the 1980 Summer Olympics, but stayed home after Canada joined the boycott of the Games. She then repeated her silver medal-winning performance in the 4x100 m relay at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, this time with Molly Killingbeck, Marita Payne Wiggins, and Angella Taylor-Issajenko. She also improved her performance in the 100 and 200 m, finishing fourth and eighth respectively. Bailey, Payne, Killingbeck, and the non-Olympian Tanya Brothers were fifth in the 4x100 m relay at the 1983 World Championships, where Bailey placed fifth and seventh in the 100 and 200 m respectively. Bailey then got her chance to compete at the Olympics in 1984, where she, Payne, Taylor, and France Gareau won silver behind the Americans in the 4x100 m relay. Bailey also finished sixth in the 100 m and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 m.

On the national level, Bailey had her most successful year in 1985, when she became Canadian champion in the 100 and 200 m. The following year she won her third silver medal in the 4x100 m relay, alongside Taylor-Issajenko, Esmie Lawrence, and Angela Phipps, placed sixth in the 100 m, and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 m at the Commonwealth Games. This quartet, with Katie Anderson in place of Lawrence, came in sixth at the 1987 World Championships, with Bailey finishing seventh in the 100 m and being eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 m. She fared better at the World Indoor Championships, however, capturing bronze in the 60 metres, and also set a Canadian record in the 100 m that year. She attended the Olympics once more in 1988, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 100 m and the semi-finals of the 4x100 m relay (with Anderson, Phipps, and Taylor-Issajenko). Her last major success was earning the Canadian 100 m title in 1990, but she was still competing as late as 1999, with appearances that year at the World Championships and Pan American Games. Bailey earned a law degree from Queen’s University in 1996 but, since 2007, she has worked as a sales representative with a realty broker. She was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.98 (1987); 200 – 22.64 (1983).