Merlene Ottey Fails to Qualify for Eighth Olympics

Last Updated on November 16, 2012 by Jimson Lee

Last Week, I wrote about Merlene Ottey attempting to compete in eight Olympics.

In the article from NBCOlympics.com, they stated Jamaican-born Slovakian sprinter Merlene Ottey, 48 years old, failed in her final attempts to qualify for Beijing in the 100m to become the first athlete to compete in eight Olympics.

However, there is an error in that last statement.

61 year old Ian Millar, the Canadian Equestrian show jumping world champion, has competed in 8 Olympics from 1972 to 2004, and Beijing 2008 will become his ninth Olympiad.

In 1986 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada, just like Debbie Brill.

It is rumoured he will carry the Olympic Flag at the Opening ceremonies.

For those who think Equestrian should not be an Olympic sport, please stop laughing and stand next to the race walkers.

Here is the article about Merlene Ottey from NBCOlympics.com:

The clock – and Father Time — finally caught up with Jamaican-born sprinter Merlene Ottey, who failed in her final attempt to achieve the Beijing A qualifying standard in the 100m which would have enabled her to become the first athlete in any sport to compete in eight Olympics.

Ottey, 48, finished second at a meet in the Slovenian city of Maribor on Wednesday according to a meet organizer.

“Conditions were bad,” Robert Rudelic of the Athletic Club Poljane told Reuters. “She had wind in her chest and she missed the qualifying time by 28 hundredths of a second.”

Ottey has taken part in every Olympics since making her debut for Jamaica at the 1980 Moscow Games. Ottey, who became a Slovenian citizen in 2002, has also won 14 world championship medals, including two gold.

At the 2000 Olympics, she won a relay silver for Jamaica to become the oldest female track and field Olympic medalist.

In 2008, she was also awarded a 100m bronze medal from the same Games after Marion Jones admitted taking steroids and returned all her medals from Sydney.

With all of Jones’ performances erased from the record books, the reorganization of places and reallocation of medals resulted in Ottey moving up from fourth to third place and getting a ninth career medal, the most by any woman in track and field history.

Ottey won her first medal – one of a record six bronzes – in Moscow 28 years ago. She never won an Olympic gold. She did not win a medal in Athens in 2004, her first and only Olympics competing for Slovenia.