Budhia Singh, a boy from the slums of India, became an overnight celebrity for running marathons from the age of three. Gemma Atwal followed Budhia's story for five years, for the BBC's Storyville.
I have run upwards of a dozen marathons, but when I first heard of Budhia Singh six years ago, I was both astonished and profoundly unsettled.
How could such a small boy possess the necessary stamina or resistance to suppress the pain of running very long distances?
He was running up to seven hours at a stretch, and by the age of four he had apparently run the marathon 48 times.
Budhia was the world's youngest endurance runner Back in 2005, I met three-year-old Budhia for the first time. It was just before dawn and I could just make out Budhia's tiny legs swinging beneath a bench in what would become his trademark red pumps - they did not even make trainers his size.
As I started to approach, Budhia leapt up onto the bench and started to perform a giddy song-and-dance for me, while simultaneously making the victory sign with both hands.
I was horrified at this little marionette show, laid on apparently for my benefit and urged my translator to tell Budhia that he was not required to perform for me.
Looking at Budhia in those first few moments, I did not know if his story would turn out to be the stuff of Bollywood dreams or a child's nightmare. It turned out to be both.
Budhia's mother, like my own birth mother, belonged to the lowest Hindu caste and lived in extreme poverty. She sold him to a passing peddler for 800 rupees ($20), as she could not afford to feed her children.
Budhia was taken in by Biranchi Das, India's top judo coach, who took in a number of orphans to live and train at his centre in Bhubaneswa.
There was a small part of the boy's coach that reminded me of my own adoptive father, who took in a ragtag band of eight unwanted kids from diverse Hindu, Sikh and Muslim backgrounds, and gave them a stable upbringing.
Biranchi Das and his wife Gita adopted Budhia Singh, supported by his birth mother Sukanti But Budhia's roller-coaster journey transforms from an uplifting tale of hope and opportunity to one tainted by accusations of greed, corruption and broken dreams.
In 2006, Budhia ran 65km (40 miles) in a little over seven hours - to become the youngest endurance runner in the world.
He was adored in the slums for what he had achieved and Biranchi Das got the community involved in his dreams of turning Budhia into an Olympic champion.
But doctors and child rights activists condemned the run and took a closer interest in him.
People were divided on whether Biranchi Das truly loved Budhia or whether he was in it for the glory.
He certainly knew how to get media attention and became locked in a legal battle with the Orissa State authorities over the boy's welfare.
In 2006 Budhia was banned from long-distance running and police in Orissa stopped him from competing in a 500km (310 miles) walk on the grounds that it would seriously damage his health.
Budhia's story also descended into adults fighting a self-serving tug-of-war over a small boy.
In 2007 Budhia's mother, Sukanti Singh, who had previously supported Biranchi Das, accused the coach of exploiting her son for monetary gain.
Biranchi Das was charged with intimidation and torture, which he denied and the charges were dropped.
In 2006 Budhia Singh was taken by police for medical tests watched by the media Budhia was living back with his mother by 2008, when Biranchi Das was murdered at his judo club.
The motive is still unclear, but the police have ruled out any link to his involvement with Budhia Singh. Two men are standing trial.
On the last occasion that I saw Biranchi Das, he told me: "Budhia is a very good child. He and I had a dream. It was not fulfilled. That is the agony for me.
"In Russia, Korea and China, they start training athletes at the age of three. If you don't take risks you don't get results. I am the person who took risks with Budhia, and I got results."
Today, Budhia is a boarding pupil at a government-run sports hostel in Orissa state.
He has been assigned a new coach, although he is no longer required to run the distances he ran before and his weekly schedule includes hockey, discus and football.
I asked his new coach if he sees Budhia becoming a running champion: "Now is not the right time to say if he can make it, but if you come back in 10 years time I will tell you," he says.
Budhia has also been awarded a government scholarship to one of Bhubaneswar's most prestigious English-language medium schools.
A peon's child destined to caste-bound misery is now mingling and learning among his country's elite.
On his first day, Budhia addressed the entire school: "I am Budhia Singh. You will all be my friends and in return I will help you learn how to run."
Budhia Singh spends weekends with his mum at Salia Sali slum He recently won the egg-and-spoon race in his first school sports day.
It is difficult to gain a full sense of how Budhia is processing the events of his life and their long-term impact. The last time I saw him he seemed brooding and insular.
He would stare down a lot. He said nothing. I said nothing.
Questions seemed to put him under enormous pressure and I did not want that. Instead, we held hands and listened to the other children laughing and creating a din outside.
Perhaps for the world, Budhia has been spared his enslaver, but for this small boy, he has lost the only loving advocate and mentor he ever had.
Ultimately, I hope my film portrait of Budhia will be seen as a touching look at the
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