SHE was a gutsy little kid who could not hurdle when a Little Athletics coach, Sharon Hannan, first saw her at the Townsville track. Sally McLellan was sprinting her heart out, but would stop dead at the hurdles and then will her little legs over the barrier.
But the 12-year-old's lack of technique did not matter. Even then "No guts, no glory" was the McLellan mantra.
"She was a feisty little thing," Hannan said. "And she was fast."
Hannan could see the Gold Coast girl's potential at the state Little Athletics championships nine years ago. A partnership was formed that has since lifted McLellan to Olympic silver in the 100-metres hurdles.
But instead of clutching Olympic silver she could have been wrestling in a silver leotard. Hurdling diverted McLellan's attention away from gymnastics and a career on television as a Gladiator.
"When I was doing gymnastics all I wanted to be was a Gladiator," McLellan said. "Obviously that never happened."
She is a 21-year-old with immense self-belief who has endured a tough journey to the top. She grew up in a household in which money was tight. Her mother, Anne, a single parent, worked two jobs to earn enough to make McLellan's athletics dream happen.
In the beginning McLellan rarely won a race but her belief never disappeared and she hopes her journey will inspire others.
"I want little kids out there to realise that a little white girl can come up and claim a medal," McLellan said. "This could be the best thing that I can give to someone - not to give up. I never used to win when I was younger. Hopefully that can inspire some kids to keep going, keep trying, and keep wanting their goal."
McLellan has always been a fighter, as demonstrated by her race on Tuesday night at the Bird's Nest stadium.
"C'mon, attack the first hurdle," she cried out loud on the start line. "Go!" she screamed at herself when she saw the world No.1, Lolo Jones, falter on the ninth hurdle.
No guts, no glory.
The elation as she sprang a metre off the track waving her arms was still there in the media zone under the stadium.
Olympic silver hanging around her neck, she was wide-eyed and beyond high.
"I was so ready for it," McLellan said. "I knew I had something in there.
"In a way I was saying I did a [speed-skater Steve] Bradbury but got silver because one girl went down and I just went through. I took my chance and I did it.
"Every ounce of it [guts and determination] came out tonight. I was just pushing it in the warm-up. I'm like, 'C'mon don't be scared of those hurdles', because I was scared of those hurdles. I was like no guts, no glory, and I got it."
When McLellan was 18 and focused on making the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Anne decided to work seven days a week to ensure her daughter had the money to afford things such as massages and physiotherapy.
"We didn't have much money," Anne said. "She needed extra money, which my salary didn't cover, so I said, 'If you're aiming for the Commonwealth Games for that time that you're training I'll go out and get another job.'
"I did work seven days a week for a year but to me I wasn't sacrificing anything."
At one point the pair did not have a car. For years, McLellan would catch two, sometimes three buses to get to the Gold Coast training track. There she would train until the sun went down. By twilight she was exhausted and hopping on yet another bus to get back home.
"She's very, very focused," Anne said. "Always has been, right from a young age. She's very driven."
She did not get her hurdling ability from her mother. "I can remember falling flat on my face in the hurdles," she said.
Tears flooded McLellan's cheeks on victory.
Anne said that the last time she saw her daughter cry was when she fell over in the 100m hurdles as a teenager at the Commonwealth Games. McLellan has not fallen since.
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