[austenallred]

Oh, please.

She had a goal and she was pushing herself to reach it, despite the fact that she has an abnormal medical condition. I'm failing to see how that's a failure either of parenting or American society.

The article states that, "All of the doctors they visited cleared Sam to run." The father notes, "If we didn’t have the utmost medical clearance for her to run, she wouldn’t be running." So apparently doctors don't think her medical circumstances should preclude her from racing or racing hard, and the parents are taking all of the precautions that they can and listening to the best medical advice they can find.

Describing it as "Depriving one's brain or body of oxygen" is accurate, but very misleading. Depriving a brain or body of oxygen is quite literally exercise, just phrased to sound more scary. That's like saying, "Would you want to put chemicals into the body of a developing child?" neglecting the fact that H2O is, in fact, a chemical.

[plg]

but to the extent that you pass out and/or collapse? again and again? each race?

I see your point, and having clearance from a doctor helps argue against my concerns that's for sure.