Merlene Ottey nonexistent for Ross Dunton
Merlene 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
44
Pamela Dutton 8.73 BVAF Champs
43
Manndy Laing 8.39 BVAF Champs
Neugärtner, Petra 8,55 Deutsche-Brandberge
CLAUWAERT KARINE 8.94 Artevelde Meeting
Hazel Barker 9.12 BVAF Champs
IACOBONE Luisa 9.87 Italiani-Ancona
LAZZARI Elia 10.28 Italiani-Ancona
42
Denise Timmis 8.69 BVAF Champs
Gaye Clarke 8.82 BVAF Champs
Hannie Barnhoorn 8.88 SITTARD
Barrett, Lyn 9.15 OMTFA all Comers-26 JAN
41
Lesia Batiste 8.17 Houston Indoor Classic
Seifert, Liane 8,47 Deutsche-Brandberge
TRONCHIN Graziella 9.43 Italiani-Ancona
D’AMBROSIO Pompea 10.49 Italiani-Ancona
40
Hillebrand-Raves, Mar 8,30 Deutsche-Brandberge
Broda, Birgit 8,50 Deutsche-Brandberge
Janet Lyon 8.53 BVAF Champs
CIPRIANI Carla 10.39 Italiani-Ancona
Don’t bother looking. Ottey isn’t listed.
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.
2 Responses
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.
Nice one, there is actually some worthwhile facts on this blog some of my readers might find this worthwhile, I will send a link, thanks.
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