Up and Runyan

She has been legally blind since she was nine years old and was too injured to run in the month before last week's US Olympic Trials. Now Marla Runyan (left) is on the US Olympic team after taking third place in the 1,500 metres. Finishing behind winner Regina Jacobs and Suzy Favor-Hamilton, Runyan has become the first ever legally blind member of a US team, but she thinks of herself as an athlete first.

"I never think as much about my vision, as the media do," said the 31-year-old, who has macular degeneration, 20/300 vision, and sees peripherally. "My vision is just a circumstance. I never really looked at it as a barrier. I never said to myself I want to be the first legally blind Olympian."

Runyan had been having problems with a muscle running down the outside of her leg from hip to knee, and most of her training up to the trials had been in the pool or on a running machine. She did light track workouts the week before the trials but for her warm-up two days prior to the meet she couldn't jog for more than a lap before stopping with pain.

"She's a remarkable woman," said her coach Mike Manley. "This would have destroyed most athletes this close to the trials and she felt terrible."

In September you will easily pick out Runyan by her running style. She is tall and her back is as straight as that of Michael Johnson. She also wears wraparound shades.