Growing up, Jeanette Bolden "just wanted to be like all the other kids," she says. But uncontrolled asthma made her life very different. Bolden still has vivid memories of waking up at night, "jumping down from the top bunk, running to the front door and flinging it open, trying to breathe."

When she was 9 years old, she lived in a home for children with asthma. There she began learning about asthma management – and hope. "I got this feeling that asthma was not going to control me. I was going to control it."

Read more about Jeanette Bolden's journey from running track to fit in at school to winning an Olympic gold medal in 1984 and coaching the U.S. women's track and field team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Plus hear from world class athletes with asthma: Lucas Euser, professional cycler; Tom Dolan, swimmer and Olympic gold medalist; Nicole De Yong, skier and Olympic hopeful. (Download PDF)