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Track and field legend Merlene Ottey seems set to become the oldest-ever athlete, at 50, to compete at the European Championships.

The Jamaican superstar, who became a naturalised Slovenian in 2002, is one of five to be picked for Slovenia women's 4x100m relay squad, which begins its campaign at the championships in Barcelona on July 31.

Ottey, won nine Olympic medals in seven Games for Jamaica, missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics after failing by 0.28 seconds to attain the qualifying mark at the age of 48.

France's Nicole Brakebusch-Leveque is the oldest athlete to compete in the European Championships, aged 47.

Ottey, who was second in the Slovenian championships, has won 29 medals at major competitions, including 14 at World Championships - more than any other athlete.

And at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she became the oldest-ever athletics medallist when she anchored the Jamaican women's 4x100m relay team to silver.

Ottey won her first senior world medal, a bronze, in Moscow 30 years ago.