Merlene Ottey

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Medal record
Center
Merlene Ottey
Women’s Athletics
Competitor for Flag of Jamaica Jamaica / Flag of Slovenia Slovenia
Olympic Games
Silver 1996 Atlanta 100 m
Silver 1996 Atlanta 200 m
Bronze 2000 Sydney 100m
Silver 2000 Sydney 4x100 m relay
Bronze 1980 Moscow 200 m
Bronze 1984 Los Angeles 100 m
Bronze 1984 Los Angeles 200 m
Bronze 1992 Barcelona 200 m
Bronze 1996 Atlanta 4x100 m relay
World Championships
Gold 1991 Tokyo 4x100 m relay
Gold 1993 Stuttgart 200 m
Gold 1995 Gothenburg 200 m
Silver 1983 Helsinki 200 m
Silver 1993 Stuttgart 100 m
Silver 1995 Gothenburg 100 m
Silver 1995 Gothenburg 4x100 m relay
Bronze 1983 Helsinki 4x100 m relay
Bronze 1987 Rome 100 m
Bronze 1987 Rome 200 m
Bronze 1991 Tokyo 100 m
Bronze 1991 Tokyo 200 m
Bronze 1993 Stuttgart 4x100 m relay
Bronze 1997 Athens 200 m
Commonwealth Games
Gold 1982 Brisbane 200 m
Gold 1990 Auckland 200 m
Gold 1990 Auckland 100 m
Silver 1982 Brisbane 100 m

Merlene Joyce Ottey (born May 10, 1960 in Hanover, Jamaica) is a Jamaican-born Slovenian track athlete. Ottey began her career representing Jamaica, but since 2002, has represented Slovenia, where she now resides. She is ranked fourth on the list of the all time female athletes on the 100 meters and third on the 200 meters list.

Ottey holds the record for being the oldest track medalist ever, for running the fastest Women's Indoor 200 metres (in 21.87 seconds). [1], and for having the most women's World Championships medals (fourteen) [2]. Her career achievements and longevity have led to her being called the "Queen of the Track".

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[edit] Life and sprinting career

Ottey was born the fourth of seven children 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 1970s, Ottey attended Gurneys Mount and Pondside Schools before graduating from Ruseas 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 Summer 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 Commonwealth 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 career, she has won nine Olympic medals, the most by any woman in track and field history [3]. These include three silver and six bronze medals. Even though she has won several olympic medals, she has never won an olympic gold medal; she lost by as little as a thousandth of a second to Gail Devers, and a hundredth of a second on numerous occasions to different athletes.

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.

[edit] 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 steroids. [4]. 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. [5].

At the 2000 Olympics, Ottey finished fourth in the 100 m she had fought to partake 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 Ekaterini 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. However, In 2007 when American athlete Marion Jones admitted to steroid use during and after the Sydney Olympics, she was stripped of her medals, and Ottey was subsequently recorded as the 3rd place Bronze medal winner. This became her ninth olympic medal.

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." [6]

[edit] 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 46, she competed in the 2006 European Championships in Athletics. She finished fourth in the semi-finals of the 100 metres, preventing her from running the final, which was won by Belgium's Kim Gevaert.

[edit] 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:
  • Ottey has the most women's World Championships medals with fourteen:
    • Helsinki 1983 200 m Silver & 4 x 100 m relay Bronze
    • Rome 1987 100 m & 200 m Bronze
    • Tokyo 1991 100 m & 200 m Bronze & 4 x 100 m relay Gold
    • Stuttgart 1993 100 m Silver & 200 m Gold & 4 x 100 m relay Bronze
    • Gothenburg 1995 100 m Silver & 200 m Gold & 4 x 100 m relay Silver
    • Athens 1997 200 m Bronze

[edit] Ottey in popular culture

Merlene Ottey is believed to be a true Jamaican icon with her athletic results, endurance and great determination to compete against much younger rivals. These features have also earned her a place in the Slovenian popular culture as one of the improvisational groups of the Slovene national improv league has named itself "Merlene Ottey Project". Their plays are based on the moto: "We might be 'a lot more experienced' then our competitors, but we don't give in to noone."

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
Flag of Cuba Ana Fidelia Quirot		 Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year
1990		 Succeeded by
Flag of Germany Heike Henkel
Preceded by
Flag of Germany Steffi Graf		 United Press International
Athlete of the Year
1991		 Succeeded by
Flag of Yugoslavia Monica Seles
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Flag of the United States Dawn Sowell		 Women's 200m Best Year Performance
1990 – 1991		 Succeeded by
Flag of the United States Gwen Torrence
Preceded by
Flag of the United States Gwen Torrence		 Women's 200m Best Year Performance
1993		 Succeeded by
Flag of the United States Gwen Torrence