Marla Runyan

January 4, 1969
Disability: Blind
At the age of nine, Runyan developed Stargardts Disease, which is a
form of macular degeneration that left her legally blind. Marla Runyan
is a three time national champion in the womens 5000 meters. She
won four gold medals in the 1992 summer Paralympics. In the 1996
Paralympics she won silver in the shot put and gold in the Pentathlon.
In 2000 she became the first legally blind paralympian to compete in
the Olympic games in Sydney, Australia. She holds various American
records such as 20,000 Road (2003), All-female Marathon (2002), 500m
(2001) , Heptathlon (1996). In 2001, she co-wrote and published her
autobiography No Finish Line: My Life As I See It