Deprived, out-of-school boy starts climb to fame
BIRMINGHAM, England – Just a few years ago, sprinter Ryan Bailey was living out of a car with his mom, hanging out with gang members and failing in school.
Not exactly the typical path a sprinter takes to the Olympics.
The 23-year-old Bailey looks back at those days and shakes his head in wonder, hardly believing he’s become an Olympian. This from a kid who once was stabbed three times on a city bus and once had to endure a severe beating just to escape gang life.
This from a kid who slept in the front seat of a car, because they really booted out of school.
“It just seems so unbelievable I’m here,” said Bailey, who will compete in Monaco on Friday before arriving in Birmingham for training camp. “I sit back and think, ‘Wow, I could be like a couple of my friends – in jail or dead. I could be right there with them. But I’m not.” No, he turned that page of his life. At the US Olympic trials last month, very few knew of Bailey. He
third in the 100 meters, taking a back seat to Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay.
Those two had the more compelling stories, with Gatlin securing his return to the Olympics after a four- year doping suspension and Gay taking second on a surgically repaired hip.
Turns out, Bailey has a pretty interesting tale, too.
While growing up in Oregon, he lived for stretches at a time in a white Suzuki Esteem with his mom, Debra gia and degenerative arthritis, making wasn’t in the picture.
When he wasn’t staying with one of his sisters, Bailey stretched out in the front seat, since the back of the car was crammed with their belongings.
One of his mom’s most prized possessions was an Olympic coin she found. Nothing elaborate, Bailey thinks it might have been from Dairy Queen, but it meant the world to her. That coin – with the Olympic rings carved on the back - became the embodiment of what her son could achieve.
“She said all the time, ‘You’re going to be there one day,”’ recounted Bailey.