Photo private: Merlene Ottey (left) in 2008 at the award ceremony in Ljubljana.
Merlene Ottey will turn 60 on Sunday, May 10
Merlene Ottey is a Jamaican former track and field sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica, before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 2012. Ottey has had a long career as a top level international sprinter, concluding with her anchoring the Slovene 4 × 100 m relay team at the 2012 European Championships at the age of 52. She competed in six editions of the Olympic Games for Jamaica (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) and one edition for Slovenia (2004). (1)
The photo shows Merlene Ottey presenting medals at the award ceremony 300 m Hurdles W65. It was about the 16th European Veterans Athletic Championships Stadia July 23 – August 3, 2008 – Ljubljana. On the podiums (300 m Hurdles W65 0.686m, final 27.07.2008) were
1. Sauer, Erika 1940 Germany 62,62
2. Karlsson, Kristina 1940 Sweden 63,85
3. Schaden, Renate 1939 Austria 66,50
It was a special highlight for the athletes to receive the medals from one of the world’s best female sprinters: Merlene Ottey.
Records of Merlene Ottey in the Age Categories of the Masters
Merlene Ottey: “When I look, I see there are other people competing that are 75 to 100 years old, there is no limitation there, so, I’m going to stay running and see what I can do.” (2) (3)
Merlene Ottey managed to keep up with the absolute world top in the sprint up to the age of 50. By the way she set many new Masters records. “When I look, I see there are other people competing that are 75 to 100 years old, there is no limitation there, so, I’m going to stay running and see what I can do.”
WMA RECORDS OUTDOOR – WOMEN (updated 01 March 2020)
100m
W 35 10.74 Merlene Ottey JAM 36 09/09/96 Milano, ITA
W 40 11.09 Merlene Ottey SLO 44 03/08/04 Liege, BEL
W 45 11.34 Merlene Ottey SLO 47 12/08/08 Glasgow, GBR
W 50 11.67 Merlene Ottey SLO 50 13/07/10 Novo Mesto, GER
200m
W 35 21.93 Merlene Ottey JAM 35 25/08/95 Brussels, BEL
W 40 22.72 Merlene Ottey SLO 44 23/08/04 Athens, GRE
W 45 23.82 Merlene Ottey SLO 46 27/08/06 Bánska Bystrica, SLO
W 50 24.33 Merlene Ottey SLO 50 18/07/10 Valenje, SLO
WMA RECORDS INDOOR – WOMEN (updated 1 May 2020)
60m
W 35 7.01 Merlene Ottey JAM 38 21/02/99 Lievin, FRA
W 40 7.17 Merlene Ottey SLO 42 07/03/03 Linz, AUT
W 45 7.30 Merlene Ottey SLO 46 09/02/07 Leipzig, GER
200m
W 40 23.93 Merlene Ottey SLO 42 28/01/03 Wien, AUT
References
(1) The International Olympic Committee [#https://www.olympic.org/merlene-ottey]
(2) Meet the People: Merlene Ottey, Seven-Time Olympian and Still an Unstoppable Force, By Neža Loštrek, 27 Dec 2017 (With links to two informative videos) [# total slovenia news]
(3) Merlene Ottey Jamaican great Athlete, 24 Aug 2016, YouTube [#https://youtu.be/raJWPadJRfQ]
External Link: Merlene Ottey, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [#https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlene_Ottey]
A.H