Merlene Ottey

Merlene Joyce Ottey (born 10 May 1960) is a former sprinter who competed for Jamaica from 1978 until 2002, then for Slovenia from 2002 to 2012. She ranks sixth all-time in the indoor 60 metres, eleventh in the 100 metres, and seventh in the 200 metres. Her 200-metre indoor world record of 21.87 seconds, set in 1993, was later broken by Irina Privalova (21.79) and others; the current record is 21.63 by Elaine Thompson-Herah. She was named Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year 13 times between 1979 and 1995.

Ottey’s career spanned from the 1979 Pan American Games, where she debuted at age 19, to the 2012 European Championships, where at 52 she anchored Slovenia’s 4 × 100 m relay. She won nine Olympic medals (three silver, six bronze) and holds the record for most Olympic appearances by a track and field athlete (seven). Though an Olympic gold eluded her, she earned 14 World Championship medals, still holding the record for most individual-event medals (10) as of 2017. Her longevity and success earned her the nickname “Queen of the Track,” while her many bronze medals brought the title “Bronze Queen.”

Born in Cold Spring, Hanover, Jamaica, to Hubert and Joan Ottey, she was introduced to track by her mother, who gave her a manual on the sport. She attended Gurneys Mount, Pondside, Rusea’s, and Vere Technical High Schools, often racing barefoot. Inspired by Donald Quarrie’s 1976 Olympic sprint finals, she moved to the US in 1979 to attend the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she won 14 individual national titles and 24 All-America awards—records for a Husker athlete at the time. She won multiple NCAA titles each season, including five in 1982 and four in 1981, and helped Nebraska win indoor national championships in 1982, 1983, and 1984. She still holds Nebraska’s top indoor marks in the 55 m and 200 m, and outdoor marks in the 100 m and 200 m.

At the 1979 Pan American Games, she won a 200 m bronze. After graduating with a BA, she married American athlete Nathaniel Page in 1984 and briefly used the name Merlene Ottey-Page; they later divorced. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, she became the first female English-speaking Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal. Jamaica awarded her an Officer of the Order of Nation and the Order of Distinction. She won Commonwealth gold in the 200 m and silver in the 100 m in 1982, and gold in both events in 1990. She was named Am