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End of the line? Jamaican sprinter says career likely over after Sydney
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -- Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey says her sixth Olympics are likely to be her last, a Trinidadian newspaper reprted. "Most likely this is the end," Ottey, 40, was quoted as saying in the Trinidad Daily Express newspaper. Ottey has seven Olympic medals, but no gold. In individual races, she has two silvers (100 and 200 meters in 1996) and a bronze (the 200 in 1992). In Sydney, she came in fourth in the 100-meter dash, edged out forthe bronze by fellow Jamaican Tanya Lawrence. Her final act comes Saturday in the women's sprint relay final. Then, Ottey said, she'll consider retirement. "After the Games I'll sit down and think about it," Ottey was quoted as saying. "And if I get something better to do in the next few months, I'll move on for sure." Ottey, who first represented Jamaica as a 14-year-old, said that she will pursue a career in fashion once she steps out of the fast lane. Full-time coaching is not an option, she said. "Twenty-six years around athletics is enough," Ottey was quoted as saying. "I don't want to spend my entire life in it. I want another challenge." Ottey, the most decorated female track and field athlete with 34 medals in major championships, only recenty returned to competition after serving one year of a two-year drug suspension. She tested positive for traces of the steroid nandrolone in July 1999, forcing her to pull out of the world championships in Seville, Spain. The International Amateur Athletic Federation suspended her, but she was cleared by her national federation. The IAAF sent the case to its arbitration panel, which lifted the ban on July 3 on grounds that her urine sample was improperly tested. Still, Ottey said she does not have plans to compete in the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. "I'll only be there if it's a straight final," she said. "Let's put it this way, at 44, I'll be dead after two rounds."
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