Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph’s courage and determination were evident in her early childhood, when she contracted polio. Recovering from the onset of the illness, she continued to wear a brace on her left leg until she was eight years old. She also required the use of an orthopedic shoe but by the age of twelve she had discarded both supports and was walking normally. In high school Wilma competed in basketball and track. She was spotted by Tennessee State University’s track and field coach, Ed Temple, while she was playing in a basketball game. He invited her to attend his summer training camp at Tennessee State and the 14 year old Rudolph was soon competing with athletes much older and stronger than she.
In 1956 Rudolph competed in the US Olympic trials and won the right to compete in the 1956 Olympic Games in the 200 meter race. She was sixteen, the youngest member of the United States Olympic team. In the Olympics she lost in a preliminary race, but ran the third leg of the 4 person 100 meter relay, in which the Americans won the Bronze. In 1958 she enrolled at Tennessee State, determined to return to the Olympics on the 1960 United States team. In the interim she competed in AAU events and for Tennessee State, and at the 1960 Olympic trials set a new world record for the 200 meters.
In the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome she won Gold for the 100 and 200 meters, setting a world record time in the 100 which was not counted as such due to its being considered wind aided. She took a third Gold Medal in the 4 x 100 relay, the first American woman to win three Gold medals in a single Olympiad. The 1960 Olympics were the first to have world-wide television exposure, and Rudolph became an international star, drawing praise globally for her athleticism and poise. She continued to compete in AAU track events following her achievements, but declined the opportunity to compete in the 1964 Olympic Games.
Recognizing that she was one of the most internationally recognizable women, let alone black women, in the world Rudolph completed her education at Tennessee State before embarking on a goodwill tour through West Africa at the request of the United States Department of State. She visited several other African nations as a goodwill ambassador, including Senegal, Ghana, and Mali. In 1963 she participated in a protest in her hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, against segregated restaurants, her high profile giving the protest wide publicity. In response, Clarksville announced full desegregation of the city’s public facilities.
Throughout the remainder of her life Rudolph worked with numerous charities and non-profits which backed programs for the development of athletic programs for American youth of all races. She worked with the Job Corps, published her autobiography, and created the Wilma Rudolph Foundation in Indianapolis to provide better training for young athletes there. She also became the hostess of a television show in Indianapolis and an on-air contributor to ABC Sports. In 1994 Rudolph was diagnosed with cancer of the throat and brain, and she died of the disease in November at the age of 54. Rudolph used her athletic talent to attain a celebrity which she dedicated to the betterment of all.