KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- The cheers started when the announcer said her name: Merlene Ottey. They turned to a roar when the 40-year-old woman, bidding for a sixth Olympic berth, crossed the finish line first.

 In this Caribbean nation plagued by violent crime and economic decline, Ottey's yearlong battle against charges she used banned steroids have transformed the sprinter from merely a sports star to a symbol of resilience and justice.

 "When the athletics body said she was guilty, I never believed them for one moment," said 32-year-old taxi driver Ray Williams. "They tried to frame Ottey but had to set her free ... no white man from up-a-foreign (abroad) can keep Jah's (God's) children down."

 "You've got a black woman from black country on the verge of being one the greatest athletes of the century and the Americans and British and the Europeans don't want that," fellow driver Rickard Chambers added. "But they couldn't stop her."

 Known as the "Sprint Queen" in her Caribbean country of 2.6 million people, Ottey withdrew last summer from the world championships in Spain after traces of the banned steroid Nandrolone supposedly were found in her system.

 Jamaicans from all walks of life -- including Deputy Prime Minister Seymour Mullings who said the country was "sticking by Merlene" -- lined up to support the former University of Nebraska track star. Radio talk shows were flooded with accusations of conspiracy and words of support for Ottey.

 "To many people she's a symbol of resilience, of strength, of determination," said popular talk show host Barbara Gloudon. "The fact that she has been exonerated has made her even more of a symbol ... It helps renew the sense that there is a justice and it comes out right sometimes."

 A panel from the Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association cleared Ottey within months, but the International Amateur Athletic Federation set aside that decision and sent Ottey's case to arbitration.

 On July 3, the arbitrators lifted the ban after concluding the Swiss laboratory had improperly tested Ottey's urine sample.

 On Thursday night in Kingston, Ottey placed first in preliminary qualifiers, running 100 metres in 11.09 seconds. She probably will need to finish in the top three of Friday's finals to qualify to run in the event at the Sydney Olympics in September.

 But ecstatic Jamaican officials, barely concealing their glee and sense of vindication, have said Ottey could run in the Olympics even if she does not qualify.

 "We stuck our necks out," local Athletic Association chairman Adrian Wallace said. "The IAAF felt that panel had made a mistake and sent it to arbitration ... I think they were sticking to their guns and we stuck to ours and won."

 Wallace said his association had spent a "massive" amount of money defending Ottey. He wouldn't say how much but added it was "money we don't really have."

 But her name and honour had become synonymous with her country's.

 "She had come to symbolize excellence in Jamaica and if she had been found to be less than honourable that would have left its mark on the psyche of all Jamaicans," TVJ sports commentator Bobby Fray said.

 "It's almost like a fairy tale. She took on city hall, the international city hall, and won," he said.