in 1983, bailey was the uk's top ranked woman at 800 metres. in may, she won the uk championships title in 2:01.36, ahead of lorraine baker. in july, she won the aaa championships title in 2:00.58, ahead of anne purvis and christina boxer. then on 23 august in oslo, she ran a personal best of 1:59.54. this made her only the second british woman in history to run under the two-minute barrier for 800 metres. the first being christina boxer in 1979. bailey was the uk's second fastest 800m woman for the next four seasons, behind lorraine baker (1984) and kirsty wade (1985-1987). in 1984, her season's best was 2:00.44, but she failed to earn selection for the los angeles olympic games. she returned to sub two-minute form in 1985, improving her personal best to 1:59.36.