Evergreen Merlene Ottey will represent Slovenia in the women's 4X400m relay in Barcelona.

Merlene Ottey, the legendary sprinter who turned 50 in May, is set to become the oldest female athlete ever to compete at the European Athletics Championships.

She will represent Slovenia in the 4X100m relay in Barcelona. The previous record was held by French athlete Nicole Lévéque who competed in the women’s marathon at the age of 47 years 207 days at the 1998 European Athletics Championships in Budapest.

With Ottey's enthusiasm not waning at all in the last three decades, the Slovenian athlete with Jamaican origin is aiming for a better performance in Barcelona than four years ago in Göteborg when she reached the semi-finals of the women's 100m.

Ottey, who lives and trains in California, changed nationality after the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.  

Since then, she has been competing for Slovenia, a country she represented at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

In a remarkable athletics career Ottey has participated in seven Olympic Games since making her debut at the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. She claimed the bronze medal in the Russian capital at the age of 20.

Throughout her brilliant career, she has won 29 medals at big international championships.

She still maintains impressive positions on the all- time world rankings in both sprint categories: sixth in 100m with 10.74 and third in 200m with 21.64.