Toronto: Canada's Donovan Bailey, the defending Olympic sprint champion, has a bad case of the flu and may not be able to defend his Olympic title when the highly anticipated 100-metre heats begin in Sydney, the 'Toronto Star' newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to his coach Dan Pfaff, Bailey, 32, has the flu and can barely stand up straight, the 'Star' said. He has also been on an IV for the past 48 hours.

Pfaff told the 'Star' he does not know if Bailey, who was scheduled to begin competition on Thursday, will be able to defend the gold medal he won at the Atlanta Games in 1996, where he clocked a time of 9.84 seconds.

In June, Bailey posted an impressive 9.98 seconds but has since struggled in a series of races, consistently clocking around 10.2 seconds and finishing near the back of the field.

Going into Sydney, Bailey was considered an outsider to retain his title, a feat only Carl Lewis of the United States has managed before. The favorite to win the gold medal in the 100-metre dash is US sprinter Maurice Greene.



(c) Reuters Limited.