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Nice blog Katharine.

Only a very select few people ever deserve to be called legends, especially when still competing, Merlene is definitely one though.
I hope she performs well and wins another medal, however unlikely this may be, as she is undoubtely the best advert there is for keeping fit into middle age, as well as being a role model to a great many athletes over her career.

The fact that Merlene Ottey is now running for Slovenia! shows what a farce any sort of medal table is at these events. That said, well done to the English (Somalian) gold medalist!

Can you please confirm whether you meant 'illusive' or 'elusive'?

I hope I'm only a second slower than my peak when I reach 50.

I recall even now with faded incredulity the moment when the race officials found in favour of Gail Devers for that 100m Olympic gold. I thought it was wrong then, and I still do today, having watched the action countless times.
My conclusion, I'm afraid to say, was that Ottey was done out of a deserved share of the gold, a result that may well have eventuated had those games been held away from the US.
That official verdict must still be a source of pain for the Jamaican.

1999 Merlene was suspended for a positive drugs test. Yes I know the arbitration Panel decided that there were no grounds and lifted the ban, but frankly a lot of athletes were getting let off back then. I'm not saying Merlene was guilty, I don't know, but I can't bring myself to admire Merlene as a "legend".

I wish she was doing what Linford is and investing her knowledge and willpower into a younger athlete. Yes, everyone has the right to do what they want, but having a 50 year old Jamaican representing Slovenia (and whatever she says, I think we can all guess which female sprint team its easier to get on), isn't progressive for the sport, or really for Merlene herself who seems driven mainly by bitterness.

Merlene Ottey will alway's be a icon in jamaica no matter what, she is the best of all time. yes she is a naturalised Slovenian but jamaica is were her heart is everyday, she know were she learn her trad and that's in jamaica the sprinting capital of the world. (JAMAICA and Merlene) to di world.

Wow she is incredible.

I personally loved watching Marlene in the 1990s and even switched on just to see her. Of course she is still a fine looking woman but in the 1990s I also thought she was the best looking sportswoman in The World. Ok today I realise that is a bit shallow but I still have a lot of respect for her.

Ottey is from that generation of infamous drug cheats. In her heydays, she had a long slender and sculpted body. I thought she was on drugs. But I since changed my mind because many of her compatriots, especially Florence Griffith-Joyner, who died at the age of 39 while Ottey is alive and still kicking and duking it out against competitors young enough to be her grand children. Drugs provide instant short term benefits negated by long term deterioration of the body. No drug user can have the sort of longevity Otti has and she looks 20 years younger. It is in her genes, attitude and outlook of life.
Kudos to Ottey, who has an eviable passion for her sport. I know I hanged my soccer cletes when I turned 35: a sport that afforded me good health and ever-sculpted body, which has since deserted me. Every time I try hard to get back in shape, I lose enthusiasm despite knowing fully well the benefits I will forfeit. It takes a special person to be consistently motivated to do the same thing over and over again. It is mind-boggling. My hats off to Ottey. I hope she races at the age of 60 and older. She is an inspiration.

Im already more than a second slower than I was when I was 20...and Im only 32!!!

The fact that Merlene Ottey is now running for Slovenia! shows what a farce any sort of medal table is at these events. That said, well done to the English (Somalian) gold medalist!

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Mo Farah may have been born in Somalia, but he has been in the UK for a long time and has grown up and trained here. So why make a snide comment about him? Especially considering the fact that he arrived here as a refugee. He didn't exactly come to the UK by choice. Why shouldn't a person who came here in terrible circumstances grow up and want to represent the country who gave him and his family help when they needed it?

@3 it is obviously meant to be elusive, as in extremely difficult to achieve. Illusive, as in having the nature of an illusion would make no sense (unless your comment is meant to be some witty play on her believing she'd won at Atlanta).

@12 I totally agree. Mo Farah arrived in the UK aged 8 via Djibouti, having left Somalia due to the civil war. His father was born in Britain and Mo was allowed entry because of his father's long-term residence in the UK. Fortunately for him (and UK athletics now as it happens) his family were relatively well off and he managed to escape to Djibouti as a young child. So he has spent most of his life in the UK, has a British father and was escaping from Somalia (where he lived for only his very youthful years). Further he was introduced to athletics in the UK by his PE teacher at Feltham Community college. So JamTay1 you really need to think about your examples before you make cheap digs. I find the Qatari recruitment much more worrying (e.g. Said Saif Asaad/Angel Popov and Saif Saaeed Shaheen/Stephen Cherono, though at least he was banned from the 2004 Olympics), though that's a discussion for another time.

Mo Farah may have been born in Somalia, but he has been in the UK for a long time and has grown up and trained here. So why make a snide comment about him? Especially considering the fact that he arrived here as a refugee. He didn't exactly come to the UK by choice. Why shouldn't a person who came here in terrible circumstances grow up and want to represent the country who gave him and his family help when they needed it?


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What a ridiculous comment - of course he came to the UK through choice...

Great achievement though............ British athletics has relied on imported talent for many years now...

Merlene has always inspired. I was lucky enough to see her in Atlanta when she clocked the same time as the winner Gail Devers and still ended up second - she smiled as she accepted her medal. I also witnessed the magical events that happened in Barcelona, like Christie's 100m gold or Derek Redmond's die-hard determination in the 400m - competing at 50 Merlene's just added to the Barcelona magic.

Re Mo Farah, jagecosse wrote:
"What a ridiculous comment - of course he came to the UK through choice...

Great achievement though............ British athletics has relied on imported talent for many years now..."

8-year olds don't choose. Their parents generally choose.
As regards who is British, and "imported talent", I think you'll find that most of those who were born in Britain have foreign ancestry somewhere down the line.

Back on the subject of Merlene Ottey, a great athlete, I think she comes second out of the two all time greatest female 100 metre sprinters. The other, and top of the list, is Christine Arron, who can be considered well and truly hard done by and who should be rightly regarded the real World Record holder.

There is a big difference between someone who is already a sportsman/woman and migrates between flags (eg Zola Budd) and a child migrant who later becomes a sportsman/woman like Mo Farah.

If sporting flags were restricted to place of birth, I can immediately think of a couple of England cricket captains who wouldn't have passed the test: Ted Dexter (Milan) and Colin Cowdrey (Bangalore). But I don't recall anyone sneering that they were 'really' Italian and Indian.

I'm not sure why we have Katherine Merry on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ with her own blog - she was only in the sport for a few minutes before she retired. I'm sure we have more qualified people available !

@19 Why has Katherine Merry got her own blog? A few minutes? Do you realise that she was in the sport right from her early days winning English Schools 100 metres title for one. She had a fantastic record as a junior and in 2001 was the world no1 in the 400 metres. I have followed her for years and if not for a few injuries I reckon she would have been the UK record holder for every distance up to 400 metres. C'mon get real, she is the real deal!

icebloo
need to swot up on the facts here mate! check out her wiki page!
merry was top of the uk rankings aged 12 at 7 events, and still has the uk under 13 record at high jump @ 1.69 metres. she had a record gb junior career of 6 years (starting at 13 years old) including a total of 5 world/european junior champs winning 5 medals. she also ran 7.35 seconds for the 60m at 14! she won in her career the 100,200 and 400m at the uk champs and still holds the uk record indoors over 200m. add that to an individual olympic sprint medal and being the fastest woman in the world over 400m in 2001 running the 2nd fastest by a british woman ever of 49.59s (only behind kathy cooke).......say no more!
no one else has that career record in uk athletics.
there should have been more medals but for injuries.
but a bit longer than 5 minutes mate!

Hello Katharine,

Well she's nowhere near 50 yet, but I feel that someone in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ should be congratulating Paula Radcliffe on the birth of her second child, Raphael... excellent news!