[citation needed] Ottey's inspiration came from listening to the track and field broadcast from the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where Donald Quarrie ran in the sprint finals.

She graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts degree, married fellow athlete Nathaniel Page in 1984, and briefly used the name Merlene Ottey-Page.

[citation needed] In the 1980 Moscow games, Ottey became the first female English-speaking Caribbean athlete to win an Olympic medal.

[citation needed] Throughout her career, she has won nine Olympic medals, which ties with Allyson Felix for the most by any woman in track and field history [1].

[11] Her seven Olympic appearances from 1980 to 2004 are the second most by any Track & Field athlete, after Spanish race walker Jesús Ángel García.

[citation needed] She held the record for most World Championship medals, winning 14 (three gold, three silver, eight bronze) between 1983 and 1997 until Allyson Felix took her total from 13 to 16 in 2017 and then to 18 in 2019.

[citation needed] In 1999, during a meet in Lucerne, Switzerland, a urine sample submitted had returned positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone.

[citation needed] Ottey fought to clear her name, asserting that charge was a "terrible mistake", and that she was innocent of knowingly taking steroids.

[12] In the summer of 2000, Ottey was cleared of all charges by the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association; the IAAF lifted its two-year ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the case.

[citation needed] In Jamaica, at the National Senior Trials before selection for the Olympics, Ottey placed a disappointing fourth.

Jamaican 400 m Olympian and championship medallist Gregory Haughton led the notorious "Games Village" protests to oust Ottey, which made international headlines.

The protest ended when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) threatened to throw the Jamaicans out of the Games if the team managers were not able to control their athletes.

[13] At the 2000 Olympics, Ottey finished fourth in the 100 m, beaten from a medal by fellow Jamaican sprinter Tayna Lawrence.

In the 4×100 relay, the Jamaican team – bronze medalist Lawrence, teenager and newcomer Veronica Campbell, and Beverly McDonald – was anchored by Ottey to a silver medal.