Ailing Bailey to give it a go

By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
  SYDNEY -- Donovan Bailey is expected to begin a defence of his 100-metre Olympic championship in tomorrow's heats, despite battling a viral infection.

 "He's on the mend, he has been feeling better and he's going to compete," Brent McFarlane, the Canadian team head coach, said. "I never said he wasn't going to."

 Bailey, 32, came down with the bug just before leaving the team's pre-Olympic training camp in Runaway Bay, near Brisbane. The Oakville sprinter is now in Sydney and trained yesterday.

 During his warmup, he looked sluggish. He ran sprints of about 30 metres and then quit. At one point, he bent over, hands on his knees, fighting for air.

 "The timing is pretty rough," Bailey said. "I have less than 24 hours to be ready after two days in bed. It's not good preparation."

 McFarlane said a few members of the track and field team have come down with a virus that is causing a bit of havoc in the Olympic city.

 Half jokingly, the University of Waterloo coach said Bailey was feeling better last night thanks in part to a secret formula he gave the sprinter -- apple cider vinegar.

 "It's high in potassium and has 18 of the 22 essential minerals," McFarlane said. "And it tastes awful."

 -- with files from CP