Power of Persistence - Merlene Ottey attempts for eighth Olympics?

As a keen watcher of Olympic games since my '76, I have always admired Jamaican-born sprinter Merlene Ottey. She first competed at an Olympics in Moscow in 1980. I admire her for her persistence, determination and grace - powerful qualities of a champion. To read that 48 year old Ottey is still running and striving to race at a record eighth Olympic Games (28 years after her first) is truly inspirational. It was reported this week that she had failed in her bid to qualify by a mere 28 hundredths of a second.
However Ottey will continue to run. Her coach states that Ottey will continue to run because she can still be fast. It appears that Merlene Ottey is in sync with her body and how things ARE rather than ascribing to general beliefs about what should be. By being in the moment, and perhaps being passionate about running, Ottey continues to thrive on running and the motivation to compete at the highest level.
Though Ottey failed to win Olympic gold, no-one can deny the measure of her success which includes 9 Olympic medals, 2 World Championship titles and 14 world Championship medals.
Last week another veteran, 39 year old Irina Privalova also missed out qualifying for Beijing.