TORONTO, June 2: Olympic champion Donovan Bailey won a much-hyped, 150-meter match race for big bucks and bragging rights against US sprint star Michael Johnson after Johnson pulled up lame at the 100-meter mark.

Bailey led Johnson out of the blocks and had a two-stride lead coming off the curve at the 75-meter mark. Johnson grimaced in pain, grabbed at his left thigh and at 100-meters suddenly stopped running.Bailey, who set the 100-meter world record in winning at the Atlanta Olympics, cruised across the finish line in 14.99 seconds to collect a $ 1 million prize, yesterday. Both sprinters also will receive a $ 500,000 appearance fee.``I felt my quad tighten up coming out of the curve,'' Johnson, who set the 200 meter world mark when he won Olympic gold, told a television interviewer after the race.Bailey felt he had Johnson beaten in the race billed to settle the question of who reigns as the world's fastest man.``He's just a coward,'' said the Canadian, who roared in jubilation to the Skydome crowd after the finish.

``He didn't pull up (lame).''The race was broadcast on live television in 56 countries. The match sprint took place on a two-lane Mondo rubber track installed over the concrete floor at Skydome, home of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.Just three hours before the race began, Bailey issued a statement charging race organisers had been ``deceitful'' and saying that he would run the race under ``mental duress''.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.