New paperback edition! Raised by a single mother, Sally Pearson spent her teenage years working two jobs and catching buses to get to training. Perhaps it was her humble beginnings that instilled in her the drive to compete and succeed- her honest pursuit of excellence and the refusal to all any obstacle to stand in her way has seen Sally Pearson become one of the greatest athletes in Australia, running the fastest female 100m hurdles race in Olympic history. Her London Olympics victory was the first Aussie Gold Medal on the athletics track since Freeman won in 2000. She broke a world record in a sport where the last broken record stood from 1988. But Sally has something that can't be defined by the bare facts. And this is why her country loves her. It is her single-minded pursuit of her goals, her humble and pleasant nature, as well as her longevity as an athlete. According to her, the secret, she says, is "really just belief, it's believing in yourself and giving it a crack and knowing that you can do it".