Wilma Rudolph became a world-record-holding Olympic champion in track in field.
Rudolph accomplished this feat dispite having lost strength in her left leg and foot during her childhood due to infantile paralysis, which is caused by the polio virus. She was physically disabled for much for her early life.
After completing serveral years of medical treatments, Rudolph regained the use of her left leg. She then decided to follow her sister, Yolanda, and began to play basketball in eighth grade and throughout high school. Rudolph’s high school coach called her “Skeeter” because she moved so fast. Rudolph took on track, mostly as a while to keep busy during the off-season.
She was invited at age 14 though to join the summer training program for track at Tennessee State. After which, we entered and won all nine of her events at an Amateur Athletic Union track meet in Philly.
Rudolph competed in the 200-meter dash adn won bronze in the 4 x 100-meet relay in teh 1965 Summer Olympics, when she was 16-years-old and a junior in high school. She then went on to win three gold medals, in the 100- and 200- individuals as well as the 4 x 100-meter relay, at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Rudolph was declared the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s. She was the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
In 1962, Rudolph retired from competing. She graduated from Tennessee State University in 1963 and went on to become a teacher and coach.
Rudolph’s success has been memorialized in different ways from U.S. postage stamps to documentary films and books.