February 23, 2003Merlene Ottey nonexistent for Ross DuntonMerlene Ottey, the Jamaican-born sprint great, runs for Slovenia these days. But she might as well compete for Jupiter as far as the WMA world indoor rankings are concerned. At an indoor meet February 9, 2003, in Ghent, Belgium, only world champion Zhanna Block could beat Ottey in the 60-meter dash. Ottey clocked 7.18 to Block's 7.09. Ottey is 42. Block is 30. And Ross Dunton, who maintains the seasonal masters rankings for WMA, is a lost cause. The current edition of Dunton's world rankings include the following: WOMEN'S 60M INDOOR TRACK WORLD MASTERS PERFORMANCE LIST WOMEN 40-44 Ottey couldn't care less, of course. But masters athletes and fans should. The WMA rankings, as I've noted before, are an attempt to haul our movement into the big leagues, as far as official stats are concerned. But we'll have to be resigned to the bush league if oversights like this persist. And ignorance is no excuse for the Ottey mark at the Flanders Indoor Energizer meet -- currently among the top 10 in the world this season. Dunton is nothing if not an obsessive Web surfer. His daily newsletter is chockablock with track news. How he could overlook Ottey's performance is a mystery of the universe. So for the time being -- at least in the warped world of WMA -- Lesia Batiste is the world's fastest W40 sprinter, based on her 8.17 at the Houston Indoor Classic -- almost a full second slower than Ottey's mark a week later. Shhhh, don't tell Lesia. Posted by kenstone at February 23, 2003 12:13 AMComments
No need to keep it quiet... I am aware of my competition. The only difference between she and I is that: I run for life, she runs for a living. But I'm not hating. I take my spikes off to her(as opposed to my hat). She is a world class runner, despite your age. Posted by: L. Batiste on February 28, 2003 12:46 PMPost a comment
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