Sanya Richards sprinter.(olympic athletes)

Byline: Lillian Ross

Nineteen-year-old Sanya Richards, a cheerful, soft-spoken 140-pound, five-foot-eight-and-a-quarter-inches-tall sophomore on the University of Texas Longhorns track-and-field team, may be one of the youngest competitors ever to run the Olympic 400-meter sprint. Somehow, she already has the traditionally appealing aura of a star. At the moment, she holds the NCAA title and the national USA championship in the 400, as well as the international championship as anchor in the 4 x 400 meter relay race. (Note to couch potatoes: One meter is equal to about 3.3 feet.)

"I have no doubt that Sanya is prepared to win," says her coach, Beverly Kearney, 46, who is in her twelfth season of overseeing track and field at UT and happens to be a phenomenon herself. She was in a near-fatal car crash two years ago, and she has continued coaching while overcoming hospitalization, paralysis, and confinement to a wheelchair; these days she uses a walker. (She also helps look after four-year-old Imani Sparks, daughter of the Olympic runner Ilrey Sparks, who was killed in the accident.) "My belief in Sanya comes from Sanya's belief in herself," Kearney says, as noticeably cheerful as her charge.

Sanya is comfortably aware of her own talent. "When I was seven, I won a school sports-day race, and I felt it was something I saw myself doing for the rest of my life." She adds, "When I'm running, I feel free. What I feel is-I'm floating."

Sanya was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on February 26, 1985. Her father is in real estate; her mother, who owned a gym in Jamaica, works as a travel adviser in Miami. Sanya's younger sister, Shari, is a UT freshman. The family moved to Pembroke Pines, Florida, when Sanya was twelve. The girls and their mother became American citizens a couple of years ago. They all intend to vote in November in their first presidential election.

Sanya is on a full athletic scholarship. "I'm majoring in business because I want to be able to take over the management of my own career, and possibly my own running camp," she says. "I take courses in statistics, accounting, and government." Sanya goes to track practice four afternoons a week and trains with weights afterward. "Up until a few years ago, there was one set way for everybody to train. Today, it's more specific, based on your assets. I devote two days to speed. I like the device of the Bullet Belt; it adds resistance before the belt loosens, and off you go! I also practice running shorter distances than the ...