Athletics: Ottey Competes at 50 to Make History
Jamaican-born sprinter Merlen Ottey is already aiming to compete at next year’s World Championships in South Korea at the age of 51. The athlete will enter in this way in IAAF history, being the oldest sport-woman who takes start at the World Championships. Jamaica failed in qualifying for the big final at 4x100m at the European Championships that takes place these days in Barcelona. Despite her age, the Slovenian said she won’t give up the career, showing herself prepared to target even an appearance at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She declared: “Yeah, it’s a great feeling. I guess it’s my genes. I try to push myself to the limit. This is how I get my adrenalin.”
The “Queen of the Track”, as she is nicknamed won her first Olympic Medal 20 years ago, at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where she took the bronze in the 200m and added another 33 medals throught out the three decades. “There was zero pressure on me back then. When I went there I was a nobody and nobody bothered me.” Furthermore, asked if she will take part at the London Olympics in 2012, Jamaican sprinter said: “I don’t see the end at the moment. My goal now is to try to qualify for the world championships. As for the Olympics, ask me after the worlds.” As for her country’s failure to get into the 4x100m final, Ottey showed herself sad about the chance her team had, but which wasn’t fructified.
“I knew right away that we didn’t qualify so I was disappointed. If one of the other teams had made a mistake we might have had a chance but it wasn’t to be,” she added. The old athlete also declared she finds a very good challenge in competing with much more younger sprinters than her: “I find it a challenge and it’s a joy competing against people younger than me.” These days, she ran just one second behind her personal best of 10.74, record that she set in Milan in 1996.
