ATHENS (Reuters):FOR A split second it was like old times as Merlene Ottey and two Jamaicans dashed across the finish line together to qualify for the semi-finals of the Olympic 100 metres yesterday.
In fact, the 44-year-old sporting the unfamiliar blue and green vest of Slovenia behind the canary yellow-clad Sherone Simpson and Aleen Bailey crossed the line with mixed feelings.
"This one feels different, there is a new motivation because usually I'm representing Jamaica for the Olympics," Ottey told reporters after clocking 11.24 to show she can still cut it with the young guns of her sport.
Ottey, now running for Slovenia where she lives, first competed in the 1980 Moscow Olympics for Jamaica, when neither Simpson nor Bailey were even born.
An illustrious career and a shower of medals 35 at major championships followed and Athens 2004 is her seventh Olympic Games, a record for any track and field athlete.
Her tally of eight Olympic medals is also a record for a woman track athlete. She never struck Olympic gold, missing out on the 100 title in 1996 to her American nemesis Gail Devers by 0.005 seconds.
After anchoring the Jamaican team to bronze in the Sydney Games, Ottey, came under pressure to make way for Caribbean youth, hence her decision to switch her allegiance to Slovenia.
She does not expect to add to her medal haul in the 100 this time and has already achieved her stated target of reaching the semi-finals in what is surely her final appearance in the 100 at
the Games.
