Merlene Ottey

Merlene Ottey (b. May 10, 1960 in Hanover, Jamaica) is a track athlete. Beginning her career as a Jamaican sprinter she now resides in, and represents Slovenia. She ranks at number four on the list of top ten all time female athletes on the 100 meters, and number three on the list of the top ten all time athletes on the 200 meters - women.

Biography and sprinting career

Ottey was born the fourth of seven child to Hubert and Joan Ottey in Cold Spring, Hanover. She was introduced to the sport by her mother, who bought her a manual on track and field. In her early school years in the seventies, Ottey attended Gurneys Mount and Pondside Schools before graduating from Rusea and Vere Technical high schools. There she frequently competed barefooted in local races.

Related Topics:
Hanover - Track and field - Seventies - Barefoot

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Ottey's inspiration came from listening to the track and field broadcast from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, where Donald Quarrie ran in the sprint finals. Her athletics career took off when she emigrated to the U.S, and attended the University of Nebraska in 1979, where he joined the track team. She represented Jamaica in the 1979 Pan American Games, winning a bronze medal in the 200 m. She graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, and married fellow athlete Nathaniel Page in 1984. The couple later divorced.

Related Topics:
1976 Olympics - Montreal - Donald Quarrie - Emigrate - U.S - University of Nebraska - 1979 - Pan American - Bronze medal - Bachelor of Arts - 1984

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In the 1980 Moscow games, Merlene Ottey became the first female English speaking Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal. Back in Jamaica, she was awarded an Officer of the Order of Nation, and the Order of Distinction for ?services in the field of sport?.

Related Topics:
1980 - Moscow - Caribbean - Olympic

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In the 1982 Commonwealth games, Ottey won a gold medal in the 200m, and silver medal in the 100m. Nearly a decade later, in the 1990 games, she won gold in both events. Ottey was named Ambassador of Jamaica after her gold medal win in the 1993 world championships. She has also been named Jamaican Sportswoman of the year 15 times between 1979 and 1997.

Related Topics:
1982 - Commonwealth - Decade - 1990 - Ambassador - 1993 - 1979 - 1997

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Throughout her carrer, she has won eight Olympic medals the most by any woman in track and field history http://www.olympic.org.nz/Article.aspx?ID=685. These include three silver and five bronze medals. Even though she has won several olympic medals, she has never won an olympic gold medal; she sometimes lost by as little as a hundredth of a second.

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She won 14 World Championship medals between 1983 to 1997 —more than any other athlete, male or female —earning her the nickname "Queen of the Track". She has won a total of three gold, three silver and eight bronze medals in the 4 x 100 m relay, the 100-m, and 200-m races. Ottey was appointed an Ambassador at Large by the Jamaican government in 1993.

Related Topics:
1983 - 1997 - 1993

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