Merlene
Ottey surfaces
James Dunaway for IAAF
17 September 2000 - Sydney - Merlene Ottey, interviewed after a workout today at an Olympic training track a few hundred metres from the Olympic Stadium, seems to be in good condition and good spirits.
With her coach of two years, Srdjan Djordjevic of Slovenia, watching closely, the 40-year-old Jamaican took a dozen starts. "We're trying to work on the movements at the start, to make the start explosive but smooth," he said, using hand gestures as he said, "Boom! Not ba-boom!"
Ottey was reinstated by decision of an arbitration panel 17 June (announced 3 July) after being out of action since last August after she tested positive for nandrolone. She has been named to the Jamaican Olympic team in the 4x100 relay, and is one of four Jamaican sprinters nominated for the individual 100 metres. At present, though, she has not been told by the coaches whether she will be one of the three who will actually run the 100, and she has indicated that if she's not named for the 100, she won't run the relay. "In that case, I may take a vacation," she said a week ago after winning a wind-aided 10.91seconds 100m at Runaway Bay near Brisbane on September 10.
"Since the decision, I had only two months of training to get back in shape for the Olympic Games before I ran 10.99 in Salonika on August 30," she said today. "I was able to train at about 50% at first because I'm sort of a fitness buff. Then I came here and I've had another two weeks more of work. I think I'm making good progress."
Asked if Marion Jones isn't a sure thing for the Olympic 100m, Ottey said, "She 's a very ambitious person, and she has dominated the sprints for several years. But she has to do four races like everybody else. I know she'll be tough to beat. But this is the Olympics, and you always have surprises.
"You never know."
