Margaret Johnson Bailes (born January 23, 1951) is an American

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who competed in the 100 and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

Early life

Margaret Johnson Bailes was born in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. When she was five, she moved to

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

with her family after her father, Albert "Duke" Johnson, decided it would be a good place to raise his children.

Athletic career

When Bailes was 9, a chance attendance as a spectator to an

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

event at

Hayward Field Hayward Field is a track and field stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. It has been the home of the university's track and field teams since 1921, and was the on-campus ho ...

led her to meet Wendy Jerome, the wife of

Harry Jerome Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

. Wendy Jerome saw that Bailes had talent and soon became her coach. At 16 Bailes was one of the top U.S. sprinters with a fifth place in the 1967 AAU 200 m. She competed for the United States in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

held in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the 4 x 100 meters where she won the gold medal with her teammates 100 m silver medalist

Barbara Ferrell Barbara Ann Ferrell, Mrs. Edmonson (born July 28, 1947, Hattiesburg, Mississippi) is an American former track and field athlete who competed mainly in the 100-metre dash. She was the U.S. national champion in that event in 1967 and 1969 and i ...

Mildrette Netter Mildrette Netter (born June 16, 1948 in Rosedale, Mississippi) is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 100 meters. She competed for the United States in the 1968 Summer Olympics held in Mexico City, Mexico in the 4 x 100 meters where ...

and Olympic 100 m champion

Wyomia Tyus Wyomia Tyus (pronunciation: ''why-o-mi''; born August 29, 1945) is a retired American track and field sprinter, and the first person to retain the Olympic title in the 100 m (a feat since duplicated by Carl Lewis, Gail Devers, Shelly-Ann Fraser ...

. Bailes still holds the all-time Oregon state high school records for 100 meters (11.29s) and 200 meters (22.95s), set in 1968 while she was a student at Churchill High School in

. She was inducted into the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1991. She retired from the sport at the age of 17.

References

1951 births Living people American female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Track and field athletes from Oregon Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Winston Churchill High School (Eugene, Oregon) alumni USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Olympic female sprinters 20th-century American women {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub