1996 OLYMPICS, ATLANTA

100 metre final

For the second time in their career Merlene Ottey and Gail Devers had a photofinish in one of the major Championship finals (the first time was at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany). Yet again Devers was judged the winner by a few thousands of a second. In the final Devers was the fastest out of the blocks with Ottey more than a meter behind, but in the last 20 metres Ottey was the fastest and she caught up with Devers at the finish line, where both women were given the time of 10.94 seconds.

Officials found that Devers was the winner, but Jamaica filed a protest saying that Devers only was first to cross the finish line with her head and not with the torso as the rules say. But after scrutizinig the finishphoto the Atlanta officials confirmed that Devers was the winner. Therefore the result stayed the same and Ottey had to accept the Olympic silver medal - which still was better than the four Olympic bronzemedals she already had received between 1980 and 1992.

100 metre final (wind speed -0.7):
1. Gail Devers 10.94 sec.
2. Merlene Ottey 10.94 sec.
3. Gwen Torrence 10.96 sec.
4. Chandra Sturrup 11.00 sec.
5. Marina Trandenkova 11.06 sec.
6. Natalia Voronova 11.10 sec.
7. Mary Onyali 11.13 sec.
8. Zhanna Pintusevich 11.14 sec.

4 x 100 metre final

For the fourth time in a row the United States won Olympic gold on the short relay. The Bahamian girls won a surprise silver medal. Merlene Ottey ran Jamaica’s last leg in the fastest time ever in a 100 metre with flying start (9.83 seconds). She passed Russia’s Irina Privalova on the last meters to secure Jamaica a bronze medal. That was furthermore her 7^th Olympic medal equaling the record of Irena Szewinska, Poland.

2000 OLYMPICS, SYDNEY

100 metres

After all the stress she must have felt due to the discussions surrounding her selection to run the 100 metres, Merlene Ottey impressed heavily in the first races at her 6th Olympic participation. She won her preliminary and quarterfinal heats in 11.24 sec. and 11.08 sec. respectively. Up against strong medal contenders in the semifinal she amazed everyone again by winning in 11.22 sec.and thereby making it to yet another Olympic final at the age of 40 - simply fantastic!!! 

In the final Tanya Lawrence was the first to react to the starter's gun. She was eventually passed by Marion Jones and Ekaterini Thanou, but held on to third place (11.18 sec.) 0.01 sec. ahead of Ottey. Marion Jones cruised to victory in an impressive 10.75 sec. ahead of Thanou (11.12 sec.). The first to congratulate Lawrence was Ottey: "She came over, shook my hands and said good job", said the beaming Lawrence.

Merlene herself said after the race: "One or two races are enough for me. Doing four rounds is definitely a killer. I tried. I was really going forward. I would have loved to have moved up one or two spots. It just didn't happen. But to finish fourth in the Olympics is a fantastic result considering everything. I missed one year of competition, and coming back here and running against these people, much faster than I am, for me it was a challenge. I did my very best". She continued "Two-and-a-half months ago, I didn't think I would race in these Olympics. I didn't think I would race again. So I was glad I had the opportunity to come back out here. At one point I thought 'Wow, to get into the final would be nearly impossible". On her selection to run the 100 metres Ottey said "I'm sure by now they (her critics) realize they are wrong. It was the right selection. In the end, Jamaica saw the three best run". As for Marion Jones, Ottey said she is in a class by herself: "Unfortunately there's nobody to challenge her".

100 metre final (wind speed -0.5):
1. Marion Jones 10.75 sec.
2. Ekaterini Thanou 11.12 sec.
3. Tanya Lawrence 11.18 sec.
4. Merlene Ottey 11.19 sec.
5. Zhanna Pintusevich 11.20 sec.
6. Chandra Sturrup 11.21 sec.
7. Sevatheda Fynes 11.22 sec.
8. Debbie Ferguson 11.29 sec.

Merlene running in the quarterfinal

200 metres

In spite of her earlier success with participation 5 Olympic finals in a row (1980-1996), Merlene Ottey chose not to run this distance. Instead the 200 metre final was won by Marion Jones ahead of two girls receiving their first individual Olympic medals ever, Pauline Davis-Thompson (Bahamas) and Susanthika Jayesinghe (Sri Lanka).

200 metre final (wind speed )
1. Marion Jones 21.85 sec.
2. Pauline Davis-Thompson 22.27 sec.
3. Susanthika Jayesinghe 22.28 sec.
4. Beverly McDonald 22.35 sec.
5. Debbie Ferguson 22.37 sec.
6. Melinda Gainsford-Taylor 22.42 sec.
7. Cathy Freeman 22.53 sec.
8. Zhanna Pintusevich 22.66 sec.

4 x 100 metres

In her last Olympic race Merlene managed to bring home a silver medal to Jamaica. McDonald handed Ottey the batton in second position behind the Bahamas and Ottey held on to the silver in spite of a strong finish by Marion Jones (USA), who's dream of a third Olympic gold medal was changed into yet another bronze medal. Had the Jamaican hand-overs functioned as well as that of the Bahamian girls, the gold medal might be hanging around the neck of Merlene Ottey and the three other Jamaican girls. After 20 years of Olympic competitions Merlene Ottey now alone holds the medal record for female athletes with 8 medals (3 silver and 5 bronze).

4 x 100 metre final:
1. Bahamas 41.95 sec.
2. Jamaica 42.13 sec.
3. USA 42.20 sec.
4. France 42.42 sec.
5. Russia 43.02 sec.
6. Germany 43.11 sec.
7. Nigeria 44.05 sec.
8. China 44.87 sec.

Merlene Ottey and Veronica Campbell training baton exchange

The Jamaican Team with their silver medals
(Lawrence, Campbell, McDonald & Ottey)

Ko je maja 2002 Merlene prejela slovensko državljanstvo, je v enem številnih intervjujejev med drugim rekla, da sicer ničesar posebej ne načrtuje, da pa je zanesljivo le, da po Olimpiadi v Atenah leta 2004 ne bo več nastopala kot sprinterka...

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