It would seem that knowing oxygen levels in the blood might be useful in training, but I can't find anything about runners using an oximeter. I mean, runners need oxygen and here is a portable, inexpensive device that measures oxygen saturation.
I would imagine that it might be used to determine if a runner ran a tempo too hard by checking immediately upon stopping. Maybe it could let runners know the optimum time to start the next interval (rather than the arbitrary 60 seconds, 90 seconds, etc). Instead, you would start when oxygen levels reached some percentage.
Anyone heard of anyone using an oximeter to train or to train their athletes?