Merlene Ottey apologizes for 11.84 at 51: ‘I’ll do better next year’

Simply incredible. Check out this video of W50 freak of nature Merlene Ottey running an 11.84 for 100 meters September 20 at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meet in Warsaw, where she took fourth. She tells a Polish interviewer that her start was bad, but thought a British girl caught a flier. “I’ll be back in Poland,” she says. “I’ll be faster next year.” So she’s obviously holding out hope of being on a Slovenian relay team for the London Games. Incredible. Her 11.84, BTW, corresponds on the Age-Graded Tables to a time of 10.02 seconds for an open athlete. She already owns the listed W50 WR in the 100 — 11.67 in July 2010. Many thanks to Jimson Lee for video link!

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September 26, 2011

30 Responses

  1. Tom Phillips - September 26, 2011

    I reckon that’s what the slomo shows too! Other Brit was my Clubmate Montell Douglas! I just hope Slovenian Masts are using the publicity Ottey can give them! Love to see her in London 2012.

  2. Fred - September 27, 2011

    Respectively, Age Graded Tables needed to be desperately updated if a 11.84 converts to an 10.02…..for a woman. Merlene Ottey is a freak of nature, is one of the best woman sprinters of all time…….but never did she have a 10.02 in her legs

  3. Mike Sullivan - September 27, 2011

    What! W50 11.84 …..Back to the Weight Room! Sully

  4. peter taylor - September 27, 2011

    Yes, I know that Merlene (11.84 here at age 51) is great and all that, but take another look at the story just below. Our own superstar, Kathy Bergen, ran 14.78 and she is 70-something. Last I looked that is a difference of only 2.94 seconds, and Kathy is two decades older. Wow.

  5. Armando Oliveira - September 27, 2011

    Why do we continue to give Ottey a drug cheat ink? We will never know what residual benefits she may still be getting from her likely 20+ years of PED use. Please be part of the solution and hold each known cheat accountable for their actions. She likely denied others who are more deserving. I question her being clean today, why shouldn’t I?

  6. Milan Jamrich - September 28, 2011

    Armando, testing is the answer. She does get tested on a regular basis because she still competes at the elite level. Most of the american masters do not get tested. However, you are right, drug use gives you advantage for many years to come even if you stop taking them. Not sure how to address that.

  7. Fred - September 28, 2011

    Armando, you make a valid point but if thats the case there are a ton of elite athletes in all sports who have tested positive at least once. Do you hold them all equally accountable? I’m just wondering if you hold all to the same accountability standards as you would for Merlene Ottey.

  8. Armando Oliveira - September 29, 2011

    Hey fred, lets say the woman you loved for twenty + years goes out and cheats on you once. Do you ever really trust her again (or him)? Five years later you are asked by a friend if she was faithful and if you trust her; What do you say? Well, for me and many other masters athletes this is the sport we love and I feel cheated. It is one thing to report what merlene did (stats), it is another to prop her up like she is a star, great or incredible…She is forever tainted as are any other athletes that get busted. Athletes willingly make the decision to cheat and at some level they should all be held accountable.
    Milan, she currently has “elite masters” performances not “elite open” performances and testing is expensive. Further, where she competes these days there is likely little testing going on especially for a 51 year old. Finally, how many national heroes leave their homeland? Even Jamaica pushed her away.

  9. Quacie - September 29, 2011

    just a few points to present Armando _
    1. Merlene was found to be innocent of all doping charges. so if you do not honor this then you are saying the IAAF that heads the sport we all love is in fact incompetent>
    2. no one can survive this sport for so long and take PEDs, they take a harsh toll on the body and continued use runs you into the ground. Ask the east germans, ask flo jo… whoops, you cant, she died at the ripe age of 37, doped up athletes have to give them self breaks from the peds thus, their times fluctuate rather drastically and are often times “injured” – this is not the case with ottey.
    3. is nothing to be said of her work ethic? athletes all about who have seen, known or worked out with ottey say she is a beast, strict and focussed at all times. THAT for me, counts for something.
    4. i am jamaican, so i know this to be true, ottey did not “leave” jamaica, she had not lived solely in jamaica since the mid 80s when she was a student in the US, ottey is a hero in jamaica and in the world of track all over, she is still a jamaican ambassador at large with diplomatic status.
    i dont expect you to get any of tis as i can feel the hate flowing from you, but do as you please…. merlene ottey will continue to do as she feels, and will stop when she feels.

  10. Fred - September 30, 2011

    Hello Armando, once again you make a valid point however I think I am willing to forgive a little bit more than you are.

    There is nothing wrong with you feeling the way you do, we just respectively disagree on it, so let me address your question. First, your comparison to the love of track to the love of a spouse is very much different (can track bring forth a seed that will be here after our last breath, that will talk about us in the highest regard once they are raised with love……? Now if you are an elite athlete, yes track will immortalize you like, say, Jesse Owens however the overwhelming majority of us never reach that level), I could write a book on how they are different but I understand where you are coming from. And to answer your question which has 2 parts I would not tell a friend if my spouse wasn’t faithful because I dont put that type of business out there for even a friend to know – a friend knowing the truth about her might look at her in a different perspective even though there friendship could not be betrayed to same level of that with a spouse. Now would I trust her, not immediately, after 5 years – more than likely but maybe not, I’ll admit that. We can both handle that situation differently and thats ok but on to Merlene and T&F.

    I understand that you look at her like a cheat forever and you will never change your mind about her. Then you MUST feel cheated about a ton of athletes in every sport under the sun and you MUST feel greatly cheated about American T&F athletes who have produced the most drug cheats in the history of the sport – hands down (are you cheated in regards to Carl Lewis?). You have to feel cheated about baseball, football & basketball athletes. You have to feel cheated about NASCAR teams. Shoot you have to feel cheated in regards to banks and politicians….see where I’m going.

    Merlene Ottey did cheat, is she now? I dont know but I cant dwell on it. To be honest I felt more cheated that LaShawn Merritt was allowed to run at the WC’s and NOT fulfill his suspension because the U.S. needed a 400m medalist……But I let it go, he’s young and hopefully he’ll learn his lesson. All in all, I LOVE TRACK AND FIELD just like you but I wont allow the cheats to take away from it for me. Its my side passion because I have a family and work and when you take the time to see the cheats in the business world who get over in excess of hundreds of billions of dollars which comes back to haunt the common man/woman with increased taxes, inflation, corporate downsizing. I understand that there are cheats in every aspect of life. But when it comes to track, I just try to enjoy whatever it is; whether it is a small article, a simple conversation, volunteering or running at a meet because when you take a certain perspective in regards to one issue and realize it should stay consistent with all issues and that perspective is negative….You’re going to be one one unhappy person.

    Lets just agree to disagree Armando. Merlene is an outstanding athlete who has cheated and could be cheating now but we dont know……Unto the next article.

  11. J-bub - September 30, 2011

    When did Merlene test positive? Before Sydney? I cannot remember.

  12. Fred - September 30, 2011

    She tested positive in 1999

  13. Terry Parks - October 1, 2011

    Just saw in Sports Illustrated that one of own tested positive:
    A 63-year-old Masters track and field athlete has been suspended from competition for two years for testing positive for a doctor-prescribed steroid without a therapeutic use exemption.

    S. Craig Shumaker of Glenmoore, Pa., tested positive at the USA Masters Track & Field Championships in July in Berea, Ohio. He won the men’s 60 shot put and was second in the discus for his age group.

    The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Friday those results will be forfeited.

    Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/track_field/wires/09/30/2080.ap.ath.doping.masters.athlete.0103/index.html#ixzz1ZXrFHiCf

  14. peter taylor - October 1, 2011

    Thank you for your post, Terry. Craig Shumaker has been a highly regarded thrower in US Masters T&F for at least two decades, I would guess. I sincerely hope that there is a detailed follow-up regarding the circumstances of this incident.

  15. Terry Parks - October 1, 2011

    I know that we all work so hard, and it is though seeing this on Sports Illustrated. All the good things that we do are ignored for this kind of stuff. I am not aware of the circumstances and I do not envy Mr. Shumaker plight. Two years is a long time to be away from the sport. I hope that we all can learn from this and move forward in a positive way.

  16. Cornell - October 1, 2011

    All of you guys need to give it a break about this Merlene Ottey crap. If I’m not mistaken, she was cleared and at this point she will never be elite again. The people who continue to go on about missed opportunities probably wouldn’t have medaled anyway or in fact was cheating as well. I’m American and truly get sick of all the Jamaicans feeling that we all are cheaters when they lose to us but in the end, only God and the individual athletes know for sure if they were cheating. Everything else is just speculation. Lastly, please let Flo-Jo rest in peace because her death was due to a condition that she was born with. Get the facts prior to posting. Peace

  17. JStone - October 1, 2011

    Cornell and I had a conversation about Flo-Jo when we were training at the SMC track back in 1999. Maybe this post will jog his memory. Anyway, I too agree that the substances she used to grow those ridiculous muscles and improve her 100 meter time from roughly 11.1 to 10.49 probably did not cause her death. Obviously, we will never know what she did or did not take, but one thing is certain, there is no way that a well conditioned 29 year old athlete -male or female- can add that much muscle and speed without taking PED’s! Ask any reputable doping expert, kinesiologist, physicist, physiologist or endocrinologist and they will tell you so.

  18. Cornell - October 2, 2011

    JStone, FloJo ran 10.96in 1987 as well as a hand-timed 21.7(TAC)and auto 21.9? (WC silver). The 10.49 is wind-aided so now we’re talking about 10.61 only .35 improvement. Go back and look at FloJo (1984) she had muscularity then and you will see that the women of today are more muscular than she was in 1988 or’84. By the way, I’m unsure who you are so I don’t remember any conversations in 1999. Sorry.

  19. Texas Tornado - October 3, 2011

    Cornell, ONLY .35 improvement in 100 meters? That is an enormous improvement and far beyond the bounds of clean training. ONLY? Come on. At the elite level, .35 seconds in the 100m is an astronomical improvement.

  20. JStone - October 3, 2011

    Flo-Jo’s dramatic performance improvement and bulging muscles equate very nicely to Carmelita Jeter. Jeter is the CSUDH 100M record holder with a time of 11.43 and she was 2nd at USATF clubs in 2006 with a time of 11.49, but in 2009 she ran 10.64 and moved to #2 on the all-time performance list, trailing only Flo-Jo. Jeter’s muscles do not need to be mentioned because they speak for themselves.

  21. Cornell - October 6, 2011

    Texas Tornado, then you must think that Sally Pearson, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Anne Fraser, and many others who’ve had similar drops in time in recent years are doped up as well.

  22. JStone - October 7, 2011

    Well duh! Fraser has failed a drug test and it’s pretty remarkable that Bolt’s times are far superior to all of the past dopers such as Ben Johnson, Tim Montgomery, Maurice Green, Dwain Chambers, and Dennis Mitchell.

  23. JStone - October 7, 2011

    Oh, and let’s not forget how much faster Bolt is than 2-time offender Steve Mullings.

  24. Fred - October 10, 2011

    @JStone……before you start on Bolt just look at what the young man was running at 14,15 & 16 years old. Now look at the individuals you listed that he is faster than….what were they running at the same age…

    ……Oh I’ll wait, its on the internet, do your research…….Now look at trackandfieldnews.com and look at the U.S. high school national records and all-time list, any of those names look familiar? Well if those Olympic and World Champions who were American and were simply nasty as preps could make it to the very best of the elite level why not others?

    Bolt has not failed a drug test yet but for “people” like you he has failed one at each meet he ever ran. I dont know if this is true but Daegu was described as one of the most drug tested meets in history….did he fail? Yes things can change tomorrow but until then…….Well I’d say more but I know it wouldnt change the perspective of someone like you.

  25. JStone - October 11, 2011

    Fred, How about some open-mindedness in terms of your perspective? It’s pretty safe to say that clean world-class athletes do not beat doped world-class athletes. However, Bolt –similar to Lance Armstrong– not only beats dopers, he destroys them! One of the simple rules of the world is and always will be; when things look unnatural or seem to good to be true, they usually are!

  26. marjorie barnett - March 10, 2012

    I am jamaican and has been a merlene ottey fan for ever but I think its time for her to share her talent by helping some improvished children or even some other athlete to excell in track and field and stop acting like she is searching for something she lost in track and field its embarrising to see her on the track talking bout she will do better next year what for

  27. Quacie - March 11, 2012

    The sad thing you just confirmed is that many of us feel as though we own these athletes, (entertainers).
    We understand nothing of individual purpose nor do respect the fact that merlene is an individual with her own goals, dreams, and her own limits. Not everyone is a philanthropist, not everyone has the passion to go and mentor a group or whatever.
    Let me point out that there are many people who draw strength and inspiration for Ottey’s continued participation on the track, she is at the forefront of research that is helping to develop technology that all athletes may soon benefit from.
    Also, by her continued presence on the track, it is no longer the norm for one’s career to to end at age 27 as it once was…. It is merlene ottey who showed the rest of the sprinting world that it is possible to keep going well beyond there 30s.
    It is passion that derives her, she ran for our enjoyment in her best years, why now is it such a ‘shame’ that she runs for herself?

  28. Stephanie - August 3, 2012

    Merlene was not ignored by Jamaica due to her age. Per the Jamaica Observer, “Controversy at the 2000 Sydney Olympics over claims she was only included in the Jamaican team because of her name led her to quit, and she began competing for Slovenia.” (Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/52-y-o-Ottey-for-Helsinki-champs_11751741#ixzz22XeJWwgV) — I am a Jamaican, and I know many of us who still love and respect Merlene. I am proud that she ignores all the hatemongers who say negative things about her. She just keeps rolling along. If only a lot of us, including myself, had the drive that she has, we would all be better human beings. Enjoy your weekend everyone, and may God bless you all.

  29. Monica - December 26, 2012

    It’s depressing to read so many comments from Jamaicans supporting Merlene Ottey who don’t seem to remember (or want to remember) that she tested positive nandrolone, a banned performance-enhancing drug. Pointing out this simple truth does not make you a “hater”–that is just a dishonest and nasty smear tactic used by Ottey’s supporters who do not want to have an honest debate.

    The truth is that Jamaica has produced many brilliant sprinters who are worthy of our admiration and respect, Usain Bolt being a great example. But Ottey belongs to an era when doping was endemic in the sport, and sprinters of Jamaican heritage were testing positive left, right and centre. She tested positive and frankly should have hung up her spikes a long time ago.

  30. Fred - December 28, 2012

    That could be said about how many Americans supporting their athletes who test positive, on an annual basis, more than other nation hands down.

    I didnt hear a peep out of any media outlet in regards to Merritt not serving his ban this year.

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