KEY POINTS:
Liza Hunter-Galvan is determined to run at the Beijing Olympics to create new memories for her brain-injured daughter.
And Olympic legends are backing her bid after she was excluded from the New Zealand team.
The mother-of-four marathon runner has fought back from her own injuries, suffered when a truck ploughed into the family's car in the United States last year, to run an A standard qualifying time for Beijing.
But Athletics NZ ruled her out of the Olympic team because of poor performances at previous championships.
Now Hunter-Galvan will have the support of Olympic triple gold medallist Peter Snell, and bronze medallists and marathon champions Lorraine Moller and Rod Dixon, when her case goes to the Sports Tribunal next week.
Snell was incensed by Hunter-Galvan's exclusion and said the inspiration the 38-year-old was drawing from her daughter - who suffered serious head injuries in the crash - should be something the country should embrace.
She deserves to go to Beijing, he says, and in letter to the tribunal has called the decision not to select her as "crazy".
If the same criteria had applied in 1960, Snell wouldn't have gone to Rome where he made the final of the 800m as a rank outsider and won.
"The marathon is an event that favours the mature athlete," says Snell's letter of support. "The fact that Liza recently ran a personal best for 10k suggests that she is in the best form of her career.
"Had the current criteria existed in 1960, my lack of international experience and 24th world ranking would have been enough to leave me off the team for Rome. Past performances cannot be changed but at least current form should be the main yardstick for judging those who are most likely to be successful."
Hunter-Galvan, who lives in the United States and ran for New Zealand at the Athens games in 2004, was driven by the desire to help daughter Amber, a promising runner herself before the accident.
The 13-year-old girl was in a coma for almost a month and still has scars and memory problems.
"I would run to the end of the earth if I knew it would help her. She doesn't remember me competing at Athens ... and she remembers so little of the Commonwealth Games.
"I want to create new memories and trigger old ones for her. [The Olympics] is one way to do that."
Hunter-Galvan came 51st at the Athens Olympics, 39th at the 2005 world championships and did not finish at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
