Merlene Ottey continues to set world records as a 50 year old. In the European Athletics Championship she'll set a new one again - as the oldest competitor ever. In the future she aims to become the world's oldest woman. But that is going to happen 72 years from now. -"Yes, I hope to be older than the French woman Jeanne Calment, she is the worlds oldest woman through all times. She became 122 years old, but it doesn't feel impossible to beat", says Marlene Ottey. MERLENE Ottey, who first shot to fame at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, will make history at next week's European championships when she competes at the age of 50.
The former Jamaican runner has been selected in Slovenia's 4x100m relay squad for the event, which starts in Barcelona on Tuesday. Ottey, who took Slovenian citizenship in 2002, won a bronze medal in the 200m at the 1980 Olympics, the first of nine medals she collected at Olympic level. But she never managed to win gold at the Games. In 2008, she failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics having raced in the previous seven Summer Games.
France's Nicole Brakebusch-Leveque is the oldest athlete so far to compete in the European Championships. She was 47 when she contested the marathon in Budapest in 1998.
7/28/10
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