Merlene Ottey: the pride of Slovenia?

We were just watching the preliminary heats of the women's 100 meter run, and were surprised to see Ottey, the grande dame of Jamaican track, representing a slightly different country.

The NBC commentators didn't give much of an explanation (way to go, knuckleheads). Turns out that she'd been getting some treatment and coaching in Slovenia in the late 1990s, and when the Jamaican team started to try to ease her out for younger runners (Ottey is 44), she opted to move on. She became a Slovenian citizen a couple of years ago. She says she plans to run for Slovenia in the 2006 European championships, which suggests a certain lack of depth in the Slovenian track program at the shorter distances.

In the heat we saw, Ottey was flanked by Jamaicans. They finished 1-2, with Ottey finishing third. They all advanced to the semis.

I'm sure they're partying in Ljubljana.

Going back to yesterday's archery, the men's final involved a 41-year old Japanese contestant who took bronze in Los Angeles. I have to think that 20 years between medals is some sort of record. He took silver.

The coverage gave me a much greater appreciation for archery. The target is 70 meters (roughly 230 feet) away from the participants, and the center ring has the diameter of an orange. Each guy got 12 arrows in an alternate shot format, which makes for good, dramatic coverage. Makes me wish I'd stuck with archery the one time I tried it out at Scout camp.

Oh, we can knock off fencing from the list of sports not seen, as I caught chunks of the men's team sabre final. A tough competition for the US, falling a point short of both making the gold medal match and winning bronze.

As a televised sport, fencing is a little difficult given that it's not always easy to see the touches. I still enjoyed it.