Melville Cooke, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU -
JOAN-BOWEN OTTEY'S right fist clenched in her lap as her daughter Merlene received the baton from Beverly McDonald. She didn't make a sound for the next 11 seconds, every sinew taut with attention as she fused with the television.
She didn't blink. Save for a rhythmic working of her fingers, Mrs. Ottey may have been a life-sized mahagony carving dressed in glasses, long blue nightgown, socks and sandals on the sculptor's whim.
She relaxed in the final flowing stride which took Jamaica home in second position, muttering something which may have been a cross between a prayer and a triumphant cry. Or it may have been meant only for her fourth child thousands of miles and a time difference of 15 hours away.
"Well it's a silver. It's a silver!" Mrs. Ottey then said contentedly, back with the world once more in her Cold Spring, Hanover, home.
"I'm really feeling great. I am happy for Jamaica. If that baton change had been better it would have been gold. At least she has her three Olympic silver now," the retired nurse said.
With the exception of that glitch, Mrs. Ottey got her wish - that nothing would go wrong. She also got the present that she most wanted for her birthday today - that Jamaica and Merlene would do well and place in the top three.
"That girl has been leading from the start, y'know," Mrs. Ottey remarked, bringing The Gleaner's team up to date on the 10,000 metre final when it arrived. Her relaxed demeanour changed as the women's 4x100 was announced.
"Definitely I'm nervous," she said just before the race began. She clasped her hands, her toes started to twitch and she rubbed her socked feet together, but did not react excessively when Merlene's face appeared on the screen, only saying quietly: "That's her. See Merlene there."
Mrs. Ottey is understandably proud of Merlene's resilience. If body language is anything to go by, she is even prouder of her daughter's fortitude than the many medals. Whereas she is proud but calm while talking about Merlene's achievements and life, her eyes blaze when she addresses the obstacles which her daughter has had to overcome.
"I want to know how many Jamaicans, how many people could have gone through what she has, knowing you're innocent. Who would have bounced back so far? You know how many of them would have walked away after the demonstration. Your own colleagues demonstrating against you?" she asked incredulously.
And she is certain that Merlene is innocent. "That's the reason why Merlene keeps on running. She said I am clean. I am drug free. Where are all the people who beat me?"
"Merlene said the first meet she went to after the drug thing, Marion (Jones) and all of them came and hugged her before the race," Mrs. Ottey said, breaking to watch an interview with the Bahamian anchor leg runner. "She wasn't thinking of Merlene at all. She was thinking about Marion Jones," the elder Ottey mused, returning to the drugs issue.
"Others have just said they have an injury. Somebody told her to say she has a broken leg. She told them well, 'yu haffi go bruck it fi mi!'" she laughed.
"She said 'I am innocent. I am going to clear my name and I am going to go to the Olympics."
Joan-Bowen Ottey is not bothered by the Olympic gold medal that has proven so elusive for her daughter.
"I know that Merlene got her gold, only it wasn't given to her. She beat Gail Devers. It's not your head, it's not your torso, it's your foot," she insisted. "I know the rules, I follow the sport; my daughter is in it."
And there are some achievements for which there are no medals, but are tremendous feats in themselves. "Do you know that Merlene has two records in this Olympics? She is the first woman at 40 to enter the sprints and she is the first woman to enter six Olympics and reach the finals of all six in the same event," the proud mother declared.
