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Merlene Joyce Ottey (b. May 10, 1960 in Hanover, Jamaica) is a track athlete. Ottey began her career representing Jamaica, but since 2000, has represented Slovenia, where she now resides. She ranks at number four on the list of top ten all time female athletes on the 100 meters, and number three on the list of the top ten all time female athletes on the 200 meters.
Ottey holds the world records for being the oldest track medalist ever, running the fastest Women's Indoor 200 metres (in 21.87 seconds) , having the most Olympic medals for a female athlete (eight), and the most women's World Championships medals (fourteen) . Her career achievements and longevity has led to her being claaed the "Queen of the track".
Biography and sprinting career
Ottey was born the fourth of seven child to Hubert and Joan Ottey in Cold Spring, Hanover. She was introduced to the sport by her mother, who bought her a manual on track and field. In her early school years in the seventies, Ottey attended Gurneys Mount and Pondside Schools before graduating from Rusea and Vere Technical high schools. There she frequently competed barefooted in local races.
Ottey's inspiration came from listening to the track and field broadcast from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, where Donald Quarrie ran in the sprint finals. Her athletics career took off when she emigrated to the U.S, and attended the University of Nebraska in 1979, where she joined the track team. She represented Jamaica in the 1979 Pan American Games, winning a bronze medal in the 200 m. She graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and married fellow athlete Nathaniel Page in 1984. The couple later divorced.
In the 1980 Moscow games, Merlene Ottey became the first female English speaking Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal. Back in Jamaica, she was awarded an Officer of the Order of Nation, and the Order of Distinction for ‘services in the field of sport’.
In the 1982 Commonwealth games, Ottey won a gold medal in the 200m, and silver medal in the 100m. Nearly a decade later, in the 1990 games, she won gold in both events. Ottey was named Ambassador of Jamaica after her gold medal win in the 1993 world championships. She has also been named Jamaican Sportswoman of the year 15 times between 1979 and 1997.
Throughout her carrer, she has won eight Olympic medals the most by any woman in track and field history . These include three silver and five bronze medals. Even though she has won several olympic medals, she has never won an olympic gold medal; she sometimes lost by as little as a hundredth of a second.
She won 14 World Championship medals between 1983 to 1997 —more than any other athlete, male or female — however, her failure to win many golds in major international competitions earned her the nickname "the Bronze Queen" in racing circles. She has won a total of three gold, three silver and eight bronze medals in the 4 x 100 m relay, the 100-m, and 200-m races. Ottey was appointed an Ambassador at Large by the Jamaican government in 1993.
Controversy
In 1999, during a meet in Lucerne, Switzerland, a urine sample submitted had returned positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone. Her 'B' sample also contained higher than normal levels of the substance. Ottey was subsequently banned by the IAAF from competing in the upcoming twenty-seventh Olympiad in Sydney, Australia in 2000. She also pulled out of World Championships in Seville, Spain.
Ottey, however, fought to clear her name, asserting that that charge was a "terrible mistake", and that she was totally innocent of knowingly taking steriods. . In the summer of 2000, Ottey was cleared of all charges by the IAAF and Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, and the laboratory who had tested her sample came under severe criticism.
In Jamaica, at the National Senior Trials prior to selection for the Olympics, Ottey placed a disappointing fourth. According to the rules of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), only athletes who had finished in the top three at the trials were eligible to run at the Olympics; she was only qualified to run on the 4 x 100 m relay team. Ottey, asked that she be substituted for another team member, a courtesy that had been extended to others in the past. The JAAA's decision to replace Peta-Gaye Dowdie with Ottey caused widespread controversy. Dowdie's team members and many Jamaicans believed that Ottey had bullied her way onto the team. She was construed as an aging icon trying to retain power by usurping the place of a younger and equally worthy athlete. Jamaican 400m Olympian and championship medallist Gregory Haughton lead the notorious "Games Village" protests to oust Ottey, which made international headlines. The protest ended when The International Olympic Committee (IOC) threatened to throw the Jamaicans out of the Games if the team managers were not able to control their charges. .
At the 2000 Olympics, Ottey finished fourth in the 100 m she had fought to parttake in, beaten from a medal by fellow Jamaica sprinter Tayna Lawrence. The race was won by Marion Jones who registered 10.75 seconds, who was followed by Ekatreni Thanou of Greece in 11.12 seconds. Lawrence posted 11.18 seconds to Ottey 11.19 seconds. In the 4×100 relay the Jamaican team, comprised of bronze medallist Lawrence, teenager and newcomer Veronica Campbell and Beverly MacDonald, was anchored to a silver medal. This medal gave Ottey her eighth medal, the most ever for a female athlete.
Due to the controversy, Ottey decided that "after Sydney I said I wasn't going to run another race for Jamaica ... because I felt like the Jamaicans were trying to push me out of the sport and I really needed to prove my point, that I might be 40 but I can still run."
Slovenia
In 1998 Ottey moved to Slovenia, and began training with Slovene coach Srdjan Djordjevic. There she was still representing Jamaica. However, in May 2002, she became a Slovenian citizen, and now resides in Ljubljana, where she represents her new country in international events.
Ottey competed for Slovenia in the 100 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where she reached the semifinals. At age 45, she shows no sign of slowing down, and she is training to compete in the 2006 European Championships in Athletics.
Records and achievements
- Ottey ranks at number three on the list of the top ten all time athletes on the 200 meters - women, and number four on the 100 meter list.
- Ottey has won a record number of medals at the indoor championships —six.
- Ottey is the first female athlete to run 60 meters under seven seconds, 100 metres under eleven seconds—a feat she has accomplished 67 times — and 200 metres Indoor under 22 seconds. She has also clocked the fastest 100 and 200 meters in the same day.
- Ottey has 57 consecutive wins in 100 meters—the most consecutive wins over 100 meters for a female, and 34 consecutive wins at 200 meters.
- Ottey is the fastest in the world among all female athletes over 30. She has recorded the fastest time for any female athlete at age 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and age 40.
- Ottey is the first from the Western Hemisphere (outside the USA) to win two individual medals at the same games.
- At the 1995 World Championships, Ottey became the oldest ever female gold medallist when she won the 200 m at age 35 years 92 days. At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, she became the oldest female medallist ever at 37 years 90 days, when she won the bronze medal. In 2000, at age 40, Ottey became the oldest track and field medalist when she anchored the Jamaican women's 4×100 meters to a silver medal.
- Ottey is also one of two athletes to win twenty medals at the Olympic Games and the World Championships (combined).
- Ottey holds the record for running the fastest women's Indoor 200 metres, in 21.87 seconds.
- In five World Championships, Ottey has so far won thirteen medals: three gold, four silver and six bronze medals, while at the Olympics she has earned two silver and five bronze medals.
- Ottey has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete from the Western Hemisphere. She is also the first female Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal.
- Ottey's Olympics Medals:
- Moscow 1980 200 m Bronze
- Los Angeles 1984 100 m & 200 m Bronze
- Barcelona 1992 200 m Bronze
- Atlanta 1996 100 m & 200 m Silver & 4 x 100 m relay Bronze
- Sydney 2000 4 x 100 m relay Silver
- Ottey has the most women's World Chanpionships medals with fourteen:
References
- Merlene Ottey
- Go local Jamaica-Merlene Ottey
- Merlene Ottey interview
- The Jamaica Observer, Merlene Ottey
External links
Categories:- 1960 births
- Living people
- Athletes at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Athletes at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Athletes at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Athletes at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Athletes at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- Athletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Olympic competitors for Jamaica
- Olympic competitors for Slovenia
- Jamaican athletes
- Slovenian athletes
- Sprinters