Jamaican sprint legend Merlene Ottey made her return to the track almost a year after failing a drugs test to record 11.42sec in the 100m at the Nuoro meet in Sardinia Wednesday.
The 40-year-old, competing in her first event since an IAAF Arbitration Panel lifted her suspension earlier this month, won the race by coming in ahead of Italy's Manuela Caddeo (12.18), but her form failed to impress just weeks before the Sydney Olympics.
Ottey, who has 34 medals in Olympic and world championship events to her credit, seemed tense. The competitors weren't helped by the race being delayed by 20 minutes and the unseasonably cold weather.
The time clocked was way outside her personal best of 10.74.
Ottey, nicknamed the 'Lion Queen', had pulled out of the world championships in Spain last August in a blaze of publicity after her second test from the Lucerne meeting of July 5 had been returned positive.
She always denied the charge claiming there had been a "terrible mistake" and had been cleared by the Jamaican National Athletics Federation.
After competing in Sardinia, Ottey, who is only targeting the 100m in the Olympics this September will return immediately to Jamaica for the Olympic selections which take place from July 20-22 – (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
