Olympic runner who got stuck in porta-potty scores toilet paper sponsorship

The summer has been flush with opportunities for American 400-metre champion Kendall Ellis.

Track fans might remember Ellis as the runner who found herself stuck in a porta-potty at the U.S. track trials in June, in a semi-panic as she banged on the door for 10 minutes trying to grab someone's attention, worried that her Olympic hopes were swirling away.

Help finally arrived and Ellis was freed from her porta-potty prison.She went on towin the semifinal, thenthe final, securing thetrip to the Olympicsthat went with it.

Not long after that, she had a new sponsorship deal with toilet paper maker Charmin.

"It was just the perfect fit," Ellis said.

Before we pooh-pooh all this product placement, let's at least pay heed to the reality of what it takes for someone like Ellis to make a living running track.

The28-year-oldworks in a world where only the very top athletes make millions. According to a 2023 survey by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, 82 per centof 475 athletes who responded made less than $100,000 annually.

Before the porta-potty, Ellis's best hope to make the U.S. team came on the strength of her long history as a steady relay performer. She helped the women's 4x400 team to gold and mixed relay team to bronze in Tokyo three years ago.

This time, she'll race on her ownin the women's 400 next week.

However it goes, she'll havethe sponsorship deal to fall back on. It's quite thecomeback after she nearly saw her Olympic dreams vanish.

'I'm going to have to call for help'

"It was terrifying," Ellis said, of being stuck in the porta-potty."I don't like small spaces. Being stuck in one is actually one of my greatest fears. Elevators. Porta-pottys. Water slides."

She said she was in there for "10 good minutes" and didn't have her cellphone.

"I didn't start panicking 'til I got to minute five," she said. "I was like 'OK, I'm going to have to call for help.' As embarrassing as it was to be screaming inside a porta-potty asking for help, I had to."

A worker at the practice track heard the banging and the calls for help and came over to unlock the door. What ensued was a classic case of moving from the outhouse to the penthouse.

Ellis ran a personal-best time in the semifinal (49.81 seconds), then followed that up with another one in the final (49.46).

"I was like, 'It's OK, it means something great's about to happen,'" Ellis said of her thoughts while she was banging on the door.

"And then I just hoped I got rescued in time to make something great happen."