He won
All-American honours competing for
Georgia Tech and was the
NCAA champion both indoors and outdoors in 1984. He won at the
United States Olympic Track Trials thus qualifying for the
1984 US Olympic Team. At the
1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he won the
bronze medal in the 400 m behind
Alonzo Babers and
Gabriel Tiacoh. He teamed up with Babers in the
4 × 400-meter relay event and he led the team home to victory, winning his first Olympic
gold medal. He won 400 m gold medals at the
1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow and at the
1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships in
Indianapolis. He ran at the
1987 World Championships in Athletics, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals. However, he won a gold medal in the relay with his compatriots
Danny Everett,
Roddie Haley and
Butch Reynolds. He ran in the relay heats at the
1988 Summer Olympics and received a gold medal for his contribution as the American runners won in the final. He retained his 400 m indoor title at the
1989 IAAF World Indoor Championships, setting a championship record of 45.59 seconds in the process. He failed a doping test in 1990 for the banned stimulant
phenylpropanolamine. After initially being banned for three months, the ban was overturned on the defense that neither McKay nor the doctor who had prescribed him a flu remedy where aware that the banned substance was contained in the medicine. His final international medal came at the
1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where he won the
silver in the men's relay. McKay retired from competition around 1994. He remains the joint
United States and
Panamerican record holder in the rarely competed indoor 4 × 200 m relay, which he set in 1991 in
Glasgow, Scotland alongside
Thomas Jefferson,
Raymond Pierre and
Kevin Little. He now works as a track coach at
North Springs High School, a public high school in
Sandy Springs, Georgia. Following the murder of McKay's sister, he has raised her two sons. Coached the
Dunwoody High School Girls Track and Field 5AAAAA Team to the State Championships for the 2012–2013 Season. ==Achievements==