ZAGREB, Croatia, July 9 AP - The coach of Olympic andworld championship medalist Merlene Ottey confirmed anewspaper report that Ottey would retire after theOlympic Games in Athens next year.
Srdjan Djordjevic said that Ottey’s participation inAthens depended on her fitness.
If she will be in the form she is now, shedefinitely is going to Athens,'' Djordjevic said fromLjubljana, Slovenia, where the Jamaican-born Ottey, 43,now lives. If her condition worsens, she won’t attend thegames,’’ he said.
In an interview published Wednesday in the Zagrebdaily Jutarnji list, Ottey said she still yearned torace.
I am still hugely motivated even though I competewith athletes twice as young as me,'' Ottey told thedaily. Still, I think the games in Athens will be my lastcompetition.’’
Ottey won the 100-metre sprint at the IAAF Grand Prixtrack meet in Zagreb on Monday, with a time of 11.42seconds. She acknowledged she ``should have run a muchfaster race.’’
However, she was now pacing her form for the upcomingworld championships in Paris.
Ottey has won eight Olympic medals, including twosilvers at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, and 14 world championship medals,including three golds.
At the 2000 Games in Sydney, Ottey, at 40, became theoldest track athlete to win an Olympic medal.
Ottey has lived and trained in the Slovenian capitalof Ljubljana since 1998 and was granted Sloveniancitizenship last year.