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OtteySPRINT queen Merlene Ottey yesterday strengthened her case to be named as one of three female sprinters in the 100 metres for Jamaica at the Sydney Olympics next month with a scorching run in Greece.
The 40-year-old who ran the fastest time this season for a Jamaican female when she clocked 10.99 at an international meet in Thessaloniki, Greece. This time betters her previous best on 11 seconds recorded at a meet in August.
Ottey finished fourth at the National Athletics Champion-ships in July after being cleared to compete earlier in the month by an International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) arbitration panel after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.
Since July Ottey has been campaigning to be selected for the 100 metres and not just the 4x100m for which she qualified. Earlier in the month she said she would not be going to the Olympics if she was not selected to run the 100 metres.
Only Monday she was reported as saying that she was selected to run the 100 metres. This report was, however, dismissed by Winston Ulett, manager of the Olympic team and Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) president, Adrian Wallace.
If selected, Ottey who has run in every Olympics since Moscow in 1980, will hold the record of being the first sprinter to compete in six Olympics. She has won seven medals in her five Olympic games so far and has a tally of 14 world championship medals including two golds over 200 metres.
