Ottey
GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters):
VETERAN SLOVENIAN sprinter Merlene Ottey, who represented Jamaica at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, declined yesterday to name a retirement date.
"I don't really set dates," Ottey told reporters after just missing out on a place in the women's 100 metres final at the European championships.
Ottey, 46, finished her semi-final in fifth place in 11.44 seconds, just three hundredths of a second behind Poland's Daria Onysko who grabbed the last qualifying place of the heat.
A chance to come back
"I gave all I have, I ran at 110 per cent, but I lack training. You saw I was pushing at the end, that is the sign that I can still run with the younger runners," said Ottey, who won 200m world titles in 1993 and 1995.
"I love what I'm doing. I looked around (after the race) to see what people were running; I saw some of them ran 11-fours, so I guess I have chance to come back out there," she said.
"Seriously, if my body stays healthy I want to run next year. I was able to achieve 11.40 after only a short period of training."
Ottey, who will not take part in the 200m, resumed training only a month ago after returning from tendon injuries.
