ATHLETE UNITED STATESI loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I’m competing with is me.
—WILMA RUDOLPH
Nine-year-old Wilma hung back as the congregation filed into the church building. Almost everyone she knew in Clarksville was there. As her friends and family sat down in the pews, Wilma unbuckled the leg brace that she’d worn for years. Laying it aside, she took a deep breath and stepped through the church doors. Whispers rose as Wilma, who hadn’t been seen without her brace since she was four years old, bravely walked down the aisle. As she took her seat, Wilma’s pride mingled with the joy of the congregation. She had actually walked the full length of the church. Though her life would be filled with victories, today was one of Wilma’s biggest triumphs. Little did the congregation dream that in days to come, this courageous girl would become known as the fastest woman in the world!
Wilma Rudolph was born on June 23, 1940, in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee. She was the twentieth of twenty-two children born to Ed and Blanche Rudolph. In her early childhood, Wilma battled measles, mumps, chicken pox, pneumonia, and scarlet fever. When she was four, she contracted polio, a crippling disease that left her unable to control the muscles in her left leg.
Of her diagnosis, Wilma said, “The doctors told me I would never walk, but my mother told me I would, so I believed in my mother.”
Wilma was told that she would never walk again, but she and her family refused to believe the diagnosis. Over the next ten years, they worked together to prove the doctors wrong. Wilma’s brothers and sisters took turns massaging and exercising her leg every day. Twice a week, Wilma and her mother rode the bus to a hospital for physical therapy treatments that would strengthen her muscles. At that time, the southern United States was racially segregated, and the nearest hospital that accepted African Americans was fifty miles away in Nashville. Wilma and her mother were forced to ride in the back of the bus all the way.
With such a supportive family, Wilma made slow but encouraging progress. When she was six, her leg was strong enough that she could walk with the help of a special brace. This meant that she could finally go to school with her brothers and sisters. Wilma still couldn’t participate in games and sports like the other kids did, however, so she was determined to get even stronger.
By the time Wilma was ten, she could walk short distances without the aid of her brace. Two years later, she joyfully mailed the brace back to the hospital in Nashville. She even began to play basketball! In the seventh grade, Wilma earned a spot on the school team, and over the next few years, she became a star player. During her sophomore year of high school, she scored a phenomenal 803 points in twenty-five games! This was a new record for Tennessee girls’ basketball.
Wilma’s amazing talent caught the attention of Ed Temple, a women’s track coach from Tennessee State University. Temple was impressed with her speed and determination, and he invited her to attend a summer track program at Tennessee State. This gave her a wonderful opportunity to practice and improve her skills. And practice she did. In 1956 she was such a fast runner that she qualified for the United States Olympic track team! The Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia, and young Wilma had barely traveled outside of Clarksville, Tennessee. She was thrilled! Only sixteen years old and the youngest member of the team, Wilma nevertheless won a bronze medal in the 400-meter relay.
Wilma resolved to compete in the next Olympics, and four years later, at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, she made history. With her stunning victories in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter relay, Wilma became the first American woman runner to win three gold medals in one Olympics. She was officially dubbed the fastest woman in the world.
Wilma received many other prestigious awards for her incredible athletic skill. She was voted Woman Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press and was named Sportsman of the Year by a group of European sportswriters. By the time she retired from track in 1962, she had won the James E. Sullivan Award for outstanding amateur athlete and the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Award, an honor bestowed on the best female athletes in the world.
When Wilma returned to her hometown after her Olympic victories, she was greeted by cheers and banners. The town even held a parade in her honor. The parade, attended by both African American and white citizens, was the first integrated event in Clarksville’s history!
In 1963 Wilma graduated from Tennessee State University with a degree in elementary education. She became a schoolteacher, track coach, and director of children’s sports programs. In 1967 she joined Operation Champ, an organization of athletes who coached inner-city children and teens. In the late 1970s Wilma founded her own company, Wilma Unlimited, and traveled around the country giving inspirational speeches. She shared her own story of triumph and encouraged kids to pursue their dreams no matter what obstacles they faced. Wilma was passionate about encouraging young athletes, and in 1981 she founded the Wilma Rudolph Foundation to train young people in sports.
Biographer Tom Biracree wrote:
Wilma Rudolph had overcome polio and risen from poverty to become the “fastest woman in the world.” She had won respect for women in the male-dominated world of sports, through her own spectacular achievements. Yet, Rudolph told [a] journalist that she valued her own idealism as much as any of her unique accomplishments: “I just want to be remembered as a hardworking lady with certain beliefs.”24
In 1994 Wilma Rudolph died of a brain tumor. A gifted athlete and a determined competitor, she inspired many with her remarkable courage and talent. Her life is an inspiration to everyone who has a dream that seems impossible. Wilma’s triumphs prove that with determination and vision, even the most devastating setbacks can be overcome.