Running Blind

In Beijing in 2008,

Scottish athlete Libby Clegg won silver in the 100 metres sprint.

-COMMENTATOR:

-There's a medal on offer for Great Britain!

Ah, it's amazing, I was so pleased, dead proud.

I was very proud, my eyes filled up.

I was just thinking, all that hard work and she's there, you know?

She's Scotland's golden girl of athletics.

Libby is a Paralympic athlete.

She's blind.

She was an angry young woman, she used that to find other ways

to channel that and that, for her, eventually became her running.

Libby aims to win gold in London 2012.

First, she must win a medal at the World Championships

in New Zealand to be in with a chance.

I love running to pieces. It's my main passion and I really...

I want to be at the top. I want to be number one.

# Oh, I run to the river

# It was boiling, I run to the sea

# It was boiling, I run to the sea... #

Number 54, please.

Welcome to Gateshead.

-Bye.

-Um, er, Libby Clegg. Um, 100 and 200m.

OK, welcome to Gateshead. Hope you enjoy yourselves.

Thanks very much.

It's July 2010,

and the World Championships in New Zealand are six months away.

Libby attends the Gateshead Disability Athletics Challenge today.

If she gets a good time in either the 100 metres

or 200 metres, she'll guarantee herself a place on the team.

This competition here is quite important,

because it's an opportunity for us to qualify for the World Championships in January.

Um, unfortunately the wind is not great today,

so hopefully the times won't be too bad.

Because she can't see, Libby runs with a guide,

Lincoln Asquith, ex-Commonwealth silver medallist.

'I remember when she first started running and I said, cor,

'if she falls over, she'll really hurt herself,

'and she did have a really bad fall.'

I mean, she was running in lane one and ended up in lane eight.

And she was totally grazed all down one side of her

and knocked herself out, and they wouldn't let her run

and I think then, she really realised that she needed

somebody to run with her and not to be ashamed of it.

I can hear people, like, people running,

but it depends who is running,

whether they've got a heavy foot or not.

I only listen to Lincoln, I don't really listen anyone else.

Libby wins. Her time is 12.8 seconds -

only two 100ths of a second off qualification for New Zealand.

There's time left this season to run faster.

It was a really strong headwind, actually.

What were you looking for qualifying standard, just for the guys?

-Urm about 12.5, 12.6.

-12-five 12-six.

You're certainly in shape

if Lincoln's having to work hard to keep up with you!

-I beg your pardon!

-Well done, well done!

Thank you, cheers very much.

To be a guide, you have to be able to run faster than the athlete.

But if Lincoln picks up an injury, Libby can't compete.

His stepson Mikail Huggins is coming through as Lincoln's back up.

This afternoon, Mikail will guide her in the 200 metres.

So we can move our arms to the left, OK?

So it's there, there. I want you to slowly lean.

-Feel it?

-Yep.

OK, hold it there, let's just hold it there.

Keep that going and then we're going to straighten up. Feel that?

-Yep.

-That's nice, isn't it? Got it.

-OK.

-Cool.

I'm focussing on Libby, so I need to make sure that I'm literally as one.

Yeah, we're literally running as one person.

You can have various different, different guide ropes.

You create your own one.

Right, this leg forward.

She doesn't know where the end is, right,

so sometimes she stops, like, before the end of the race.

So what we need to do is get her and him working together really well

so that she can run all the way through the line.

Even the 100 metres, just like if you're running a marathon,

you don't want to just go off really hard and dive.

In the 100 metres, it's the same thing,

and psychologically there is a big component to that,

knowing where you are, how far you've got to go.

'I've got no central vision at all,

'and I've got no useful vision left in my right eye,

'and I've only got a little bit of peripheral vision in my left eye.

'But I don't look like I can't see properly.'

I've trained myself now to make my eyes look normal and everything.

'But people say hello, I can't see where they are,

'so I just have to kind of look in the direction where they're speaking, I can't see them.'

That's Dean, Lincoln.

-No, it's not, that's not Dean.

-Steve.

No, Steve! Sorry. Oh, I'm sorry, sorry.

I can't tell whether, you know, the bloomin' Queen's stood next to me -

I wouldn't know if she was there or not.

I'm going to go round to the stand.

-OK.

-And I'm going to stand on the outside of the track.

-Oh, right, OK, cool. All right then.

-All right, so I can keep an eye.

I'll stand at the home straight so I can shout at you guys, cheer!

Yes, please.

Team Libby is a tight knit group of athlete, guides and coach.

They attend all race meetings together.

Starting in the women's open 200 metres on the far side of the track.

Visually impaired track events are split into three categories -

T13 to T11 -

ranging from partial sight to total blindness. Libby is T12.

Today, because of a lack of competitors,

all three categories are racing together,

those who need a guide and those who don't.

It's a good time. 26.71 seconds.

Libby is never sure whether she's won.

Yeah? You did it. We did it.

-TANNOY:

-A reminder to everybody of course that the guide runners must not cross the line first.

This is Mikail's first 200 metres with Libby.

His instinct is to win,

but the guide must let the athlete cross the line first.

They think that Mikail might have gone over the line before me,

which means I'll be disqualified,

so they're going to look at the photo finish to see.

But it doesn't bother me anyway if I have been disqualified,

cos it's Mikail's first race, well, second race now.

The first time doing the two for him with me.

The first time I've done the two since Beijing,

so I'm happy with that.

Mikail has crossed the line before Libby.

The officials disqualify her.

Do you know what I'm going to blame it on? The wind.

LAUGHTER

We'll use that, but, obviously, I know you got the time,

but I just feel like, for myself, I just think, "shoot".

It was your first 200 as well.

No, I'm happy.

But I have to apologise and shake hands.

Don't apologise and get back up.

She's very critical of herself.

There's no, "Oh, that was brilliant, that was amazing."

But she's very, very loyal to Lincoln.

She'll be loyal to Mikail as well.

There's no way that anybody will be blamed.

Team Libby includes her supporters.

Boyfriend, Michael, and Mum,

who travels miles every year from her home in the Borders.

Libby's family moved to Scotland in July 2002 when she was 12.

She's the eldest of four children.

Her parents recently split up,

but the Clegg's remain in the Borders, where they've laid down firm roots.

SCOTTISH PIPE MUSIC PLAYS

It's late July.

Libby and Michael are staying with mum Moira for the Langholm Common Riding,

an annual, traditional beating of the parish bounds.

My sister's horse is being ridden by one of her friends.

I think this is the start of the ride out.

They all ride up the line to start off.

It's like three hours long, so to do the whole entire ride out...

and they go to different points along the way.

CHEERING

She was a very lonely little girl,

sort of very quiet - withdrawn, even.

She was at one primary school and she was bullied there.

They used to throw the ball at her face in the playground.

She was tiny, just nothing of her.

She was so thin, her parents took her to a paediatric consultant.

After speaking to Libby privately, his advice was to move school.

But the problems continued.

It was a much bigger primary school, and they couldn't figure out

why she wasn't reading, you know,

to her, to the ability they though she should read,

because the intelligence was there, and the paediatric consultant

suggested we had to get an eye test,

and the first lady who was just testing said,

"She's just shy," and sent her away.

They didn't know what was up with her for a while.

They thought she was basically putting it on,

and it wasn't until... One night, I was...

I got home from work quite late and the children were all in bed,

this is back when we were in Macclesfield, and, um,

I went up to talk to Elizabeth and, she...

I looked, I said, "Come on, it's half past eight",

or whatever time it was, and she was looking at my watch,

and she said, "I can't see it - there's a dot in the middle."

And I said, "What do you mean, a dot?"

And she said, "Every time I move to look,

"no matter where I look," she said, there's a dot in the way."

So she said, "I try and look round it."

Aged nine,

Libby was finally diagnosed with Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy,

an inherited eye condition affecting the central area of the retina,

for which there is no known cure.

She shouldn't go completely blind, but the disease could still worsen.

I didn't know how she would react. She took it really well.

She took it better than me.

You know, I was a wreck for quite a long time.

Because she's got beautiful eyes, Elizabeth.

It's silly, cos it's a gene I carry and a gene Peter carries,

and it's just the way it is, and that's life, but I feel guilty

because she was not diagnosed, what she went through.

Did you not see me go up the hill?

No, were you one of the last ones? I thought you'd come in one of the last ones.

Because it is a genetic disease, Libby's brothers

and sister were also tested.

I sat there and watched them sit in this chair one by one

and it just felt awful, you know? Fliss was all right straight away.

Sat James down and he was just a tiny little boy,

big grin on his face,

and then this specialist shouted a couple more over,

of, like, students, I presume, and I thought, "Oh, no".

My heart sank, I just wanted to curl up and die.

And, er, and then it was Stephen's turn, and, er, Stephen,

they said, "Ah, he's too young".

But I thought with Elizabeth having brown hair

and James having brown hair, with it being genetic, that, er,

Fliss was all right, Stephen will be all right,

because they're both blondies.

And for a good few years, Stephen was fine.

I try not to bring my vision, like, discuss my vision in front of people.

It's just something I don't want to discuss with my friends,

but, like, when I'm watching telly, I sit at an angle and look above,

because it really stains my eyes when I look centrally.

When we were younger we used to sit,

we used to have like a certain seat in front of the telly.

So I would see out my left eye the best,

so I'd sit on like the left side of the telly,

so I'd just sit in the corner.

Stephen would sit in the middle lying down on the floor like that,

with his eyes up, and Libby would sit on the other side, or...

she never really watched telly with us, did she?

Cos we were watching cartoons - she didn't like it.

So I've got my PlayStation 3

upstairs that I'm on all the time at the weekends.

I can't, I don't really play it with other people.

If we were in a group, I couldn't play it then,

because I feel like I'm too much in the way.

-My head.

-Yeah. Like, a shooting game,

I'd always be right in the middle of the screen,

they'd be like, "No, move out the way, James, move out the way".

Cos you need to be able to see where your...

Who the people you're shooting are,

-but if we sit at the back of the room, or...

-Then you can't see.

We wouldn't be able to see who we were shooting.

They've seen Libby,

and they think, well, look how she's achieved, look what she can do.

I know James in the summer was really upset,

because his sight was worse and it suddenly hit him

how bad his sight was, and it upset me,

because I always thought James was the strong, quiet one,

but he just doesn't say much about feelings.

Apparently it's only one in four that are supposed to get it,

not three out of four.

They were just unlucky.

20-year-old Libby now lives in Loughborough,

one of Britain's top athletics training camps.

Her boyfriend Michael is a professional rugby player.

He's recently headed south from Edinburgh to be with her.

I really don't know what I look like.

People usually just, will tell me if I look nice or not.

I got taught how to do it in the right way

so your skin tone looks even.

I can't see someone, so I can't physically judge them

on what they look like.

I know Michael has got... He's tall,

he's quite big and he's got dark hair.

We've been together for about a year and month now.

Um, we met in the gym, when I joined up in Scotland

when Libby still lived up there.

Sometimes, I mean... I spoke to her, um,

her eyes might go a bit off focus,

um, but I thought it was one of those things.

It wasn't till she said that she was going to the Paralympics

that I asked her coach why she was going to the Paralympics,

then I found out that she was actually blind.

That was about six months after I started chatting to her!

So I never realised at all. She masks it pretty well.

When I was younger, I got really upset about it,

cos, it's not cool to have large print books,

and, you know, you do wish you were someone else at times,

but, I mean, I think I've had to grow up quite a lot,

being registered blind, because my two brothers got diagnosed

after me, and me being the eldest in the family anyway, you have to...

..sort of be a good role model to them

so they know that they can do stuff as well, really.

That's another reason why I'm quite strong about it, I think.

I've had to sort of sort myself out, not be all depressed about it,

cos you can't do anything about it,

but at the end of the day it's just life.

'We're walking round and, basically, her eyes,

'she won't see anything on her right-hand side,

'so she could easily just bang into a lamppost or something'

'and not realise, so at least if I'm there,'

she can see threats from that side and she knows that I've taken

the threats from the right-hand side, so it's good, good team work.

I'll never go to a cafe on my own that I've not been to

with someone else before.

I don't really know what's on the menu,

so I end up getting a bit panicky.

Obviously I can't read it, so I don't like asking.

Set...go!

At the HiPAC - High Performance Athletics Centre -

in Loughborough, Libby is coached by Tom Crick.

A lot of people wrote Libby off some time ago,

because, when you're younger,

people don't think you're naturally going to grow up

to be the athlete you were when you were younger.

And so, for me, she wasn't doing so well a year or so ago.

She did really well after Beijing, didn't do so well afterwards,

and now the idea is to get her back to where she was

and then help her surpass and go on to be a high level senior athlete.

Nice and smooth coming up.

I can see... If it's like a yellow cone, I can see a yellow cone better,

but I can usually just see a flash if I run past it,

but this red cone, because it's the same colour as the track,

I struggle with that.

White ones, OK, and the green ones, OK - we don't have any.

I don't know whether that's... I think that's purple,

I've never seen that one before,

Tom doesn't use a purple one, usually,

but the blue one - that can be OK,

but it's better just yellow and white, to be honest,

I can see those colours cos they're brighter.

She was always keen on running anyway when she was little,

and we always used to time her running round the block

as fast as she possibly could, and she'd go and do a few sit ups

and try a different pair of trainers

just to see if she could do it a bit faster.

Me being tired at the weekend, I'd be there with my stop watch in the garden,

"Ah, 55 seconds, Elizabeth, well done."

And she'd go and get a drink of water,

and tie her shoelaces on a bit harder or something,

or try a different pair of trainers, off again and...

"Ah, that was good, 51 seconds that time,"

and I hadn't even looked!

When you're child, it's great fun, you do all fun different things,

you know, that you do in athletics, you have a go at everything.

You know, I knew I was dedicating all my time to it,

but I had nothing else in my life at that point anyway,

cos I had no friends because I was extremely shy.

At the age of 14, she was spotted by Scottish Paralympics

and put on their development programme.

Two years later, she went to the World Championships.

I didn't even think I'd make a semi-final,

and I ended up coming second, and that's when I realised

that I had a lot of potential to go quite far.

After her success in Beijing, Libby became a "podium funded athlete".

She's now paid a salary by UK Athletics,

and her job is to train five days a week.

But if she fails to perform, her funding could be withdrawn.

You OK?

I'm OK. They were actually put back in order today or yesterday -

someone's obviously having a fresh start at keeping the gym clean.

One of the key things we're trying to work on with Libby is,

if you look at her, she's got quite big quads,

and when you run, when you hit the floor,

you're using mainly your ham strings and glutes,

so we're going to do some stuff like squats, which is making her strong,

but we're also going to do some isolated work

to bring up her glute strengths so she can be better when she runs.

'We spend at least two hours a day every day together.'

I try to be more of a coach that's more like in some ways a friend,

and I think that's all to do with the age difference,

because there's only like ten years' age gap.

I think there's a bit more of a personal relationship there,

but then you've got to make sure you still maintain your authority if you need to.

Let's go. One... Let's go again.

Two, get up, OK, hold.

One, two, three, four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine, ten.

OK. Let's go again.

OK, one, two, three, four, five, six...

When Libby first arrived,

she spent time mapping the HiPAC building, learning the layout.

If there's people here,

I'm obviously conscious of keeping out the way.

Are they conscious of you?

No, a lot of people don't know that I can't see properly,

so they probably just think I'm walking in the way deliberately.

If it's busy here, I get nervous about finding people

if I'm not with anyone.

Cos, obviously, it's quite noisy.

I mean, it's quite quiet here at the minute, but...

I can see, I know there's movement.

I don't know what they're doing, though.

-What colour are they wearing?

-I have no idea.

Well, they're girls, because the space is really echoey,

so I can hear what they're saying,

and what they're saying over there. It's just a bit much sometimes.

Libby's determination to be independent means she practises everything.

The route home to Scotland is well rehearsed.

I'm so observant of things,

I notice things because I have to notice them.

If you just show me something once,

I usually remember exactly where I'm supposed to go,

because I need to know myself to get around where everything is.

'I'm in between two different worlds,

'it's like, I'm not either fully sighted or completely blind.

'If I was completely blind, my life would be so much easier.

'I could ask for help - I'd have to.

'You know, I'd need a guide dog or a cane, I'd have to have that.

'But because I'm like in between, it's like I'm stuck,

'I don't fit in in either category.'

Not comfortable in either world, Libby wasn't making progress

in mainstream education, and a decision had to be made.

The Cleggs researched their options.

The only place that fitted the bill

was the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, a centre of excellence.

So the Clegg family moved to the Borders to qualify Libby for a place.

She was a boarder from the age of 12.

Her younger brothers joined her later.

The worst thing was them going to boarding school - I know it's a good school,

but waving them off in a taxi and off they go, it's terrible.

Ah, you just get that sickening feeling -

you had a big family, and they've all gone.

At the time they made the decision for me to move, here I wasn't happy.

Just because I felt like I was being dumped somewhere,

but after, like...

Well, I met some really nice people when I first came anyway,

my class were really great, so I settled in quite well.

-Hi. How are you?

-Oh, hello, hello, hello!

-I'm really well, thank you.

-How are you, Gavin?

-I'm good, how are you, Libby?

-I'm all right.

'You know, people look at you as an actual person rather than'

what your disability is. You don't realise that that gets you through

quite a lot of stuff, just knowing that there're other people around,

cos you can't get bullied here. What can you get bullied for?

You can't get picked on because you can't see properly.

Cos everybody here has got the same problem.

She's been very good, she's come back to school,

she's spoken to them, she's brought her medals, and it's wonderful

because, unfortunately, if you've got a visual impairment,

your chances of getting a good job are absolutely minimal.

So for young people here to see a role model like Libby,

to see her get success, is really absolutely inspirational.

Hello, Libby, how are you?

I'm very messy.

-That's OK.

-How are you?

-I'm all right.

-You've come back to visit us.

Yeah, I have. The room's not changed.

What do you mean it's not changed? It's tidy and it's active.

What are you making?

They've just made felt, we've gone right through, we've made felt.

-Can you smooth it over?

-No poppage.

-No poppage!

They weren't supposed to pop the, um, this stuff.

Because if they did it wouldn't work. Oh! I heard poppage.

I never!

No, you're not allowed to do that!

Your hair's gorgeous like that.

-She's my favourite.

-You too. Yeah, thank you.

How are you, are you all right?

She gets things sussed very quickly, and I think what Libby has

is that streak of incredible determination, from when she came through the door,

is, "I want to be as independent as possible,

"I'm going to learn quickly, I'm going to learn fast."

I don't really like Braille.

-Here's Macbeth.

-Oh, gosh.

-Do you remember who Macbeth's by?

-Yes.

-Who?

-Shakespeare.

This Braille's, like, really hard to read,

one, because it's been used before and the dots are a little bit faded,

and it's also double sided, so there's Braille on the other side

which makes it harder to read, and it's single lined,

and I only ever did double lined cos I'm rubbish at Braille.

On your marks...

Libby's racing season continues at Crystal Palace,

a major two-day event in the athletics calendar.

On day one, 17,000 people turn up to watch able-bodied races.

Libby and Mikail compete in an invitation 100 metres disability race.

It's a chance to showcase disability athletics

at a mainstream race meeting.

She races against amputees.

There are no other visually impaired athletes invited.

No, the race felt really easy,

which is a good thing, it means I've got a lot more in the tank,

so I'm really pleased with my race, and so's Tom... I hope!

I'm so... Yes!

When it's easy, that means it's a good performance,

you shouldn't feel tired, you should feel like you're floating on air,

and that's what Libby said she felt like.

My biggest thing was to make sure that Libby got across the line,

you know the drill, I don't need to say any more!

But, erm, I'm proud of her, and the fact that, when the gun went,

she reacted, she kept calm, kept her composure,

and we both did, to be fair, cos that crowd out there,

-when they start roaring, trust me...

-It's a bit nerve-racking.

I was racing against leg amputees,

er, obviously it's not ideal, me racing in a different class,

because I must have a bit of an unfair advantage.

One of the biggest challenges we've got is making people

understand the sport, it's quite complicated.

There are a lot of classes out there

and we need to help people understand that,

and by lining up eight girls

in different classifications - amputees, visually impaired girls,

it doesn't help their understanding of the event.

If there had been eight Libby's there,

there's eight girls there with a visual impairment,

they could understand that, but when there's a mix,

it's knowing, well, who's performance is actually the best?

Libby's mixed classification race did not go out live,

but it was shown later in the afternoon's sports package.

Any media coverage we get, even to you, even if it's a zoo,

we're doing a second rated, um competition, it doesn't matter -

we're looking on the long term effect that will have on the general public.

I think it was great for Libby to be out there,

and when she walked out and they introduced her,

the crowd cheered, and that was amazing,

that's what everyone dreams about doing in athletics.

Unfortunately in this country we haven't got a lot of Libby Cleggs running in competitions,

and in order for her to get the level of competition,

and so the general public can understand what she does,

we need to be able to expose Libby to the athletes

who she will be running against at the Worlds,

who she will be working with at Paralympic level.

So we need to get those world class athletes together

and put on a show, you know, just like what the mainstreams do.

As soon as you put TV cameras there

and everything else, you're going to have a massive amount of people.

Overnight, the television cameras have gone,

and there has been little audience interest in today's Disability Athletics Challenge.

The New Zealand Championships are now less than five months away,

and Libby has yet to achieve a top time for a certain place

on the team. Today's races are a chance to do that,

but there is no atmosphere to drive her on.

In Beijing, the stands were full of people,

and it was just an amazing atmosphere and just lifts you,

and that was, you know, a really, really great feeling,

cos everyone is watching you, and I think that helped me a lot.

Maybe she won't run as well today as she did yesterday,

because of the crowd, but the conditions seem a little bit better than yesterday,

a nice tail wind, so hopefully if they can put something together they'll do really well.

Libby is listed to race against other athletes

in the visually impaired categories for the 100 metres.

But only Lisa, a T13 runner with better sight, has turned up.

With no atmosphere and a single competitor,

her time is 12.71 seconds.

Still not the 12.6 A-time she requires to be a definite for New Zealand.

Is that your first race?

Good to see you back. Good to see you back.

Just seeing the back of you!

Libby still has a chance at an A-time in the 200 metres...

-COMMENTATOR:

-So, on the inside, it's Libby Clegg...

..but again, Lisa is no match for her.

Libby's now only got the clock to run against.

She runs another B-time.

Team Libby must find somewhere to race again

before the competition season is over.

Are we going to hoover the inside of this cupboard, Michael,

or are you just going to leave it?

-Hoover it.

-You're going to hoover it?

-Yeah.

Libby has a day off training to move house.

She's upgrading her one-bedroom flat to a three-bedroom house

not far away, so that Michael can move in.

These are my all-time favourite shoes.

I told you I was a scary shoe person.

Michael hates my shoes.

Did you wipe the wall down?

Everything's clean, or should be clean, in the bathroom.

Apart from the floor, but you just need to check that.

This is one of things Libby finds hard to see.

-I think it's selective seeing!

-I can hear you!

Olympic and Paralympic athletes

have to let the anti-doping authorities know

where they can be found for one hour every day.

The officials do not have to give notice of their arrival.

It's the first time Libby has lived with a boyfriend,

and his services will be useful if she's drugs tested at home.

I get two people coming to take my urine sample.

And then I have to have somebody else with me,

because I can't see properly, can't fill in the forms

and I need to check that they're not...

the people that are taking the test aren't tampering with it.

Um, so I can have like three people watching each other watch me pee!

Tomorrow we've got to go for a walk and find out the best route for her

to get to the track, cos in the other house,

like, I was fine with her walking to the track, she knew the route,

but, just find out the safest way for her, to be honest,

and so on, but I think she's fully capable,

so long as she stays to the pavement and doesn't get run over.

Bet you never told 'em that one.

-She had a little incident...

-I didn't get run over.

..a couple of days ago when she thought it was safe to cross,

not on lights, and it turns out it wasn't, so...

-What happened?

-I got a bit of a fright,

so... They came through, I couldn't hear them,

and, er, they came through like my blind spot, and like just missed it.

So, it's obviously quite dangerous.

So, I got a bollocking off my dad.

Maybe everyone else would have to deal with it -

such a small and simple thing of using lights and...

-I got the same lecture twice.

-It's true though.

-Exactly the same one twice.

-But it's true.

I know, but I'd already been told,

I said, "I've already been told this today," and then you told me again.

As a top Paralympic athlete,

Libby uses her status to promote disability sport.

She's involved with Art At The Edge,

a charity art project for the 2012 Games.

The organisation has commissioned 30 bronzes depicting various

Olympic and Paralympic events.

It's her first meeting with artist Charlotte Barker,

who is creating a bronze sculpture

based on visually impaired sprinting.

I don't know much about art, I'll be honest...

I don't know much about sport!

Well, that's fine!

-So yeah, I don't know, it'll be interesting.

-Yeah.

-OK, um, well, do you mind talking about your sight?

-Nope.

-And stuff, um...

-Do you want me to tell you a bit about it?

Well, I know a little bit, but yeah, that would be great.

I've got a condition called Stargardt's macular degeneration.

Don't try and write it down because I don't know how to spell it either!

Um, but basically it's a loss of central vision,

and you basically just use your peripheral vision.

It's kind of weird, my eyesight.

I'll explain about it because it's quite weird.

I don't like just see black, um,

it's not like just a black hole where I can't see,

it's like really bright colours, like highlighters,

like loads of little dots, right, and that's what I can't see.

So that's what's blocking my vision.

What do you kind of feel, what are the emotions that you feel,

if you could sum up in like maybe a word or, you know, a few words?

I don't know. When, even though I'm with a guide, right,

it sounds really weird, but I feel, like, free.

Do you know what I mean? Like...

it does feel individual even though it's not,

cos me and Lincoln run so well together

we're perfectly in time, most of the time anyway.

So it feels like just free.

There's only one more qualifying race left

for Libby to compete in this season.

It's a chance to achieve the elusive A time

to guarantee her a place on the New Zealand team.

Tonight's meeting at Watford is 100 miles away, and Tom is late.

KNOCK AT DOOR

I was just ringing you.

-Yep, sorry, it was in the back of my van.

-It's all right.

The Watford meeting is an amateur open field -

able-bodied, men and women.

I have run against able-bodied athletes before

but not in a very long time.

It's not exactly like a, I don't know, a level playing field really,

if they can all see, so the time, but like time-wise

that'll be good, definitely, a good opportunity.

In terms of a level playing field though

the 200m might end up being run at about eight o'clock at night,

when it might be starting to get dark,

so it might level the playing field a little bit

if the other athletes can't see where the finish line is!

Already the weather is closing in,

and it deteriorates the further south they drive.

CHATTER

The two is at 7:50, so call it eight o'clock.

That's not long in between, is it?

No.

This is our first, er, swimming gala of the year.

So, Libby's looking forward to swimming 100 and 200 metres.

-Libby, your numbers.

-Oh, thanks.

In the 100 metres, Libby races against able-bodied men.

STARTING GUN FIRES

HE SHOUTS ENCOURAGEMENT

She comes second.

But it's not a good time - 13.38 seconds.

STARTING GUN FIRES

The rain delays the schedule,

and Libby is forced to wait longer than expected for her second event.

By nine o'clock, she's tired, her adrenalin is flat,

and she comes last in the 200 metres.

She's two seconds outside her target time.

Libby fails to achieve her A standard.

A place on the team for New Zealand remains uncertain.

You've got a really bad bit there.

Mm, yeah, it's a little sore, yeah.

No athlete's career lasts forever.

With an eye to her future and jobs she is capable of doing,

last year Libby took a college course in sports massage.

I'd like to be able to treat people that are amputees, or, you know,

have had some other injury or had like a muscle imbalance

somewhere else, I want to be able to work with that kind of thing.

Your massage is all about your preparation

and my upper body compensates for the lack of

my lower part of my legs, so,

I use quite a lot of my shoulders and my arms and my back

to propel me forward, so it adds to momentum for when I run.

Yeah, you're really, really tight.

All my mates say that when I'm at the bar.

I can actually feel, like, your muscle, like, creaking.

Practical massage is one thing,

but the theory side of her course posed real problems.

This is size 48 print.

So, I can kind of read it but it's really slow.

Go on, then.

OK, right, so I'll start from the beginning.

OK, so it says "The... skin... is... an..."

"..elastic... flexible...

"membrane."

But I don't really know if that says membrane,

I'm just guessing it says membrane.

And it does say membrane, yep.

Um, "..which...is..."

Oh, God. Right. Which is...

"..thinnest...on...

"the...face...

"..and...is..."

"..thickest...on...the..."

"..palms...and...soles," yeah, soles.

On 24th September, UK Athletics announces

the selection for New Zealand. Libby hasn't heard yet.

It's a bit nerve-wracking when you know everyone else has heard already

and you're still waiting. It's a bit like, "Oh..."

-Hello.

-Hello!

-Sorry,

-I was looking for you downstairs, but you're up here.

-Oh, sorry.

-I just got the phone call.

-Oh, did you get the phone call?

Literally that's I was doing downstairs. So you got in.

-Right, that's good.

-The 100 and the 200.

Ah!

Based on past competitions and her consistent B times this season,

Libby gets a place on the team.

But the good news is immediately tempered by bad.

UK Athletics's budget is overstretched,

which affects Team Libby.

I'm entitled to two guides.

Um, and if one guide gets injured it's, you know,

you should have a backup guide, um,

but basically I might not have that option.

I might have to choose between Lincoln and Mikail,

which isn't really fair on either of them, so...

Like, Mikail's never competed in front of like, er..

Well, he's never competed at a major event before,

and obviously its not the same as being at Crystal Palace or anything,

because my funding depends on, um, this competition in New Zealand.

So it all hangs on one race?

Pretty much, yeah.

Pretty much, yeah, well, basically if you don't perform

you don't get funded any more, do you?

Her guides Mikail and Lincoln

will have to decide who goes to the Championships.

Libby must focus on winning in New Zealand.

It's her determination.

I've seen the stage where she had to

get through all of her education and train at the same time.

I couldn't get up and run up a wet hill.

I've seen her run in snow, I've seen her legs blue.

But she never boasts about anything she's achieved.

She never does.

Sometimes I think people sort of think, "Libby? Passionate?

"What's she passionate about?"

But she is - it's just it doesn't come across in that normal "YES!",

it's much more self-contained.

She was an angry young woman and I think she would admit that now,

but at the time I think she managed really well

because she took the energy, she used that to find other ways

to channel that, and that for her eventually became her running.

Libby's drive to be the best has come at a cost.

She's picked up an ankle injury and can't run.

She's confined to training on a bike.

It was almost like it came out of nowhere.

She'd had a couple of days off. Came back and said "My ankle's stiff,"

went to physio, "Feels better", the next day, "Oh, my ankle's stiff."

By like about day three we're starting to get a bit, like, "This isn't right."

So now she hasn't properly trained for three weeks.

Which is a bit worrying thinking that we've only got

eight or nine weeks left till the world championships,

and normally you want about

a ten-week development period for a sprinter before a major competition,

so we're short of time.

UK Athletics sends Libby for an MRI scan

to check what's going on inside her ankle.

It isn't a season-stopper, but it is a potential medal-stopper.

Physically she's in the best shape she has been, but it takes a number of weeks

to develop the skill of running in order to perform your best,

and that's what I'm worried about.

There's nothing anyone can do.

Libby must rest her ankle, and wait for it to heal.

Hello?

Michael?

It's really gutting. I feel so bad for her.

To think that one of the biggest competitions of her whole life

is two months away and she can't run.

The pressure's so hard, um, especially for Libby,

I mean knowing that you're going to be

competing in something as big as the Worlds, I mean...

"World" in the title just explains itself, it's massive.

I need to make sure that I do everything in my power

to be ready for January.

You know, Michael doesn't go out, and I don't really go out.

It's not that we don't want to go out, it's just we know that

if we want to be the best, that that's what you have to do.

And it means that we don't really have a life.

INAUDIBLE CHATTER ON TV

-TV:

-It's one of those things - championships can make people.

Hello, come in! All right?

Do you need a hand or are you OK?

Artist Charlotte has finished the model for the bronze sculpture.

-How are you anyway, are you all right?

-I'm all right, yeah.

Oh, wow!

Right, the idea is that this is you

and this is either Lincoln or Mikail,

cos that was one of the things,

when I watching the footage of you running with Lincoln,

just like how synchronised you were, it was just amazing, like...

Oh, no, I think that's really good.

What's the eye shape made of?

This is in wood at the moment, obviously it'll be cast in bronze,

um, and we've got some Braille here...

There a bit, yeah, it starts there.

Yeah. I'm not very good at Braille, you know.

Just to inform everyone.

I think it's amazing. An inspirational thing.

If you put that in the blind school the kids would love it -

you know, ex-pupil who has went the distance

and got an artwork for her running, you know, it's great.

Such an achievement.

Libby thinks it, she'll say it all tonight later, once everyone's left.

Some people are inspired by me,

but I really don't understand why sometimes,

cos I don't see myself as being, um, better than anyone or anything.

I think in some ways she's sort of, not wants people to know

she's blind, but I think she wants to let people know

what you can achieve by being blind,

so it's a really difficult thing for her I think because she, you know,

she doesn't want people to think "Oh, blind,"

or people to feel sorry for her but she wants people to see

that you don't have to be wrapped up in cotton wool if you're blind.

The ankle injury only stops Libby from track training,

but there are other drills Tom can concentrate on.

He pushes her hard with strength and conditioning exercises

for Libby to be in with a chance at the Championships.

With three weeks to go,

Libby is called in to see the UK Athletics doctor for a check-up.

Your office has changed.

You can squeeze the soft tissue just in front of that bone there,

and, um, just in front of the fibula here, see all this white,

-this is just inflamed tissue.

-Oh, OK.

-And that's where you had your injection a few weeks ago.

-OK.

So that's fine. Shall we have a quick look at that?

-Anything?

-No, it's not sore at all.

-Hurting there?

-No.

-If I dig my thumb in?

-Nope, nothing at all.

-That's settled, isn't it?

-It has, yeah.

-OK, that's brilliant.

-OK?

After six weeks of uncertainty, she gets the all-clear.

There's just time left to fit in one training session with her guides.

Hello, you, how are you?

Ah, not too bad.

-Down there, yeah.

-I'll be back in a second.

Lincoln has made the decision who will accompany her to New Zealand.

It wasn't a hard decision.

I can assure you, it wasn't a hard decision.

And it's not that I'm injured or anything like that,

I just think that it's important for these two young people

to really move on and do something, and I'm there as a supporting role.

I'm very happy and very confident at his ability,

and if there's any problem he can always ring me.

With Libby, Libby's now mature enough to be able to take things on.

I wouldn't have made this decision

if I felt that Libby wasn't able to handle it.

Obviously I'll be nervous when I see it on TV

because two people I really care about will be there.

Gold. We're going there for gold.

Silver, bronze, you know, we'll take the medal home if that comes,

but, you know, I'm aspiring for gold for her as well

cos I think she deserves it.

So, number one spot, definitely.

Yeah, of course I'll be nervous about it,

I always am nervous about competitions,

but at the same time, you know,

the fight is won, as Muhammad Ali would say,

now in the training period, it's not won on the day.

So as long as we're doing everything we possibly can do now,

then that will give us the best opportunity to win on the day.

And of course, you know, with a guide runner

anything can go wrong or can go right,

so there is that extra, you know, fluctuation there

that we would not normally have to deal with.

I think if we'd had ten weeks she would be on for a Beijing time.

As it goes I think we're still going to do well,

but I just can't be as confident as if we'd had ten weeks build-up here

because doing something in six weeks, I've never done it before.

On 6th January 2011, Team Libby arrives in New Zealand.

She's the only Scot competing.

At the intensive training camp before the Championships start,

Mikail tears a hamstring.

There are only eight days to go.

Well, the doctors have had him in all night,

they're doing absolutely everything they possibly can do.

I think it's, er, touch and go. I don't think it's a serious injury,

it's the timing of the injury, er, that's the problem.

I felt really bad for Libby.

I feel as though I've let my team-mate down.

She's pretty upset. I don't want to get it on camera

because she's so upset, she's crying.

Plan B is Libby has her...

another guide runner that she's familiar with

which is, er, Lincoln Asquith,

and we've already been on the phone to him.

UK Athletics's budget goes out the window. Libby must race.

Lincoln jumps on the first flight to New Zealand.

With no time to practise, it's all down to trust.

On 23rd January, Lincoln guides Libby in the 200 metres final.

She wins bronze.

Lincoln's a star! Aren't you, Lincoln?

Two days later,

Mikail is declared sufficiently fit to guide Libby in the 100 metres.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Kolnikova of Slovakia in lane five

and Elizabeth Clegg of Great Britain.

STARTING GUN FIRES

CHEERING

First gold medal ever in a World Champs,

so I'm super-happy.

It feels amazing, man.

-ANNOUNCER:

-Gold medallist and 2011 IPC Athletics World Champion,

representing Great Britain, Elizabeth Clegg.

CHEERING

She's world champion,

with the hardest year's training still to come.

Libby's next world-class event will be in front of a home crowd -

the London Paralympics 2012.

# I can see for miles and miles

# I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles

# And miles and miles and miles and miles. #

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