Owens, though, made the best of the situation, focusing on his studies and training with the OSU track team under coach Larry Snyder. Snyder, who thought Owens' race starts were too slow, made the athlete repeatedly practice starts that had him crouching tightly at the starting line. He also altered Owens' long-jump style, teaching him to move his legs in mid-air.
In general, a low platelet count occurs because: 1  The body's bone marrow doesn't make enough platelets. 2  The bone marrow makes enough platelets, but the body destroys them or uses them up. 3  The spleen holds on to too many platelets.
The low platelets can lead to serious bleeding problems both in the mother and fetus. Symptoms. ITP does not cause symptoms as long as your platelet count remains above 50,000, which usually is the minimum needed to prevent abnormal bleeding. At lower platelet levels, ITP can cause different symptoms, depending on the type of ITP. Sometimes, the only symptom is the appearance of tiny purplish spots that show up on the lower legs. They are called petechiae. These are pinpoint size accumulations of blood under the skin caused by leaky small blood vessels.