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| July 13, 2002 | Saturday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1423 |
Ottey cleared to represent Slovenia
LJUBLJANA, July 12: The coach of legendary Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey said Friday that due to recent knee surgery she was not likely to participate in next month’s European Championship in Munich, a day after she had been cleared to run for Slovenia.
Following the left knee operation, 42-year-old Ottey is only 10 percent likely to run in Munich, her Slovenian coach Srdjan Djordjevic told Slovene daily newspaper Delo Friday.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said Thursday Ottey had been cleared to run for Slovenia in the European Championships on August 6, after Jamaica agreed to allow her to compete for her new country.
Ottey last competed for Jamaica at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but has lived in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana since 1998 and was granted Slovenian citizenship in May.
However, Djordjevic said she would return slowly to the big events, and that she was possibly going to return with Zurich event at the end of August.
The two-time world 200m champion earned the tag of bridesmaid as she amassed 14 World Championship and seven Olympic medals but rarely gold.
Ottey ran for Jamaica at the Sydney Olympics after the then International Amateur Athletics Federation lifted her year-long suspension for doping.
She won a bronze medal on the 4x100m sprint relay team.—AFP
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