On July 9, 1992, Associated Press reporter David Crary was the first foreign journalist to report the story of Mirsada Buric, a future Olympian who trained in Sarajevo as the Bosnian capital was under siege. This is that report, which accompanies a new story by Crary on Buric's graduation from journalism school this week.

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) _ Running scared in borrowed track shoes, Mirsada Buric strides through the debris-strewn streets of this former Olympic city, risking sniper fire to keep alive her dream of competing in the Summer Games.

A 22-year-old distance runner who spent two weeks as a Serb prisoner last month, she is one of 10 athletes selected for war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina's first Olympic team.

Sarajevo, host of the 1984 Winter Olympics, has been under siege for three months by Serb irregulars who oppose Bosnia's independence from Yugoslavia, approved by the Croat and Muslim majority in a Feb. 29 referendum.

"Because of the war, for our hearts and for our souls, it's important to show the world we are there, in Barcelona," said Izudin Filipovic, secretary-general of Bosnian Olympic Committee.

Filipovic said the International Olympic Committee is expected to decide by next week whether to admit Bosnia as a member and allow it to compete at Barcelona under its own flag.

On Thursday, IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch proposed that Yugoslavs compete as individuals under the neutral Olympic flag and be called the Independent Team.

Bosnia's top-rated athlete is Mirjana Horvat. Filipovic says she could finish in the top 10 in the women's air rifle competition. She has been training in her hometown of Zenica, on the fringes of a combat zone, but will finish preparing in the Croatian port of Split.

"She's our top contender," Filipovic said. "For the others, it's important just to be there, under the flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina."

Six other hopefuls also are training in Split, while canoe racer Aleksandar Duric is in Hungary. But Buric and Vlado Paradzik, a judo competitor who serves in a police paramilitary unit, remain in Sarajevo and don't know yet how they'll reach Barcelona.

Buric, who hopes to compete in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter events, trains on streets and park pathways even during artillery attacks. If the bombardment seems too fierce, she runs up and down the stairs in her seven-story apartment building.

She varies her route daily, but drew sniper fire last week near the stadium built for the 1984 Games.

"I was frightened," she said Thursday. "But I don't feel as much fear since I got out of prison. ... This morning, during an alert, I was the only one on the streets."

Buric, a journalism student, was taken prisoner along with 13 relatives by Serb militiaman on June 1 in Rajlovac, her neighborhood on the outskirts of Sarajevo. She was released two weeks later, but her equipment, including running shoes, were confiscated. Her grandparents remain under house arrest. Continued...