Wilma Rudolph

Olympic athlete

Date of Birth	:	23 Jun, 1940
Date of Death	:	12 Nov, 1994
Place of Birth	:	Saint Bethlehem, Clarksville, Tennessee, United States
Profession	:	Olympic Athlete
Nationality	:	American

Wilma Glodean Rudolph was an American sprinter who overcame childhood polio and became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field after her success at the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. Rudolph competed in the 200-meter dash and won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-meter relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He also won three gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter individual events and the 4 x 100-meter relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Rudolph was hailed as the world's fastest woman in the 1960s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.

Due to the worldwide television coverage of the 1960 Summer Olympics, Rudolph became an international star, along with other Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), Oscar Robertson and Rafer Johnson who competed in Italy.

As an Olympic champion in the early 1960s, Rudolph was among the most visible black women in America and abroad. She became a role model for black and female athletes, and her Olympic successes helped develop women's track and field in the United States. Rudolph is also considered a pioneer of civil rights and women's rights. Rudolph retired from competition in 1962 at the peak of his athletic career as the world record holder in the 100- and 200-meter individual events and the 4 × 100-meter relay. After competing in the 1960 Summer Olympics, the 1963 Tennessee State University graduate became an educator and coach. Rudolph died of brain and throat cancer in 1994, and his achievements are commemorated in various tributes, including a US postage stamp, a documentary film and a made-for-television movie, numerous publications, especially books for young people. the reader

Early life and education

Wilma was born prematurely to Blanche Rudolph at 4.5 pounds (2.0 kg) on June 23, 1940 in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee (now part of Clarksville).She was the twentieth of 22 children from two marriages to her father, Ed Rudolph. Soon after Wilma's birth, her family moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where she grew up and attended elementary and high school. His father, Ed, who worked as a railroad porter and did odd jobs in Clarksville, died in 1961; His mother, Blanche, worked as a housekeeper in Clarksville and died in 1994.

Rudolph had several childhood illnesses, including pneumonia and scarlet fever, and contracted polio (caused by the poliovirus) at the age of five. He recovered from polio but lost power in his left leg. Physically disabled for most of his early life, Rudolph wore a leg brace until the age of twelve. Because little medical care was available to African American residents of Clarksville in the 1940s, Rudolph's parents sought treatment for him 50 miles (80 km) away at the historically black Meharry Medical College (now Meharry Nashville General Hospital) in Nashville, Tennessee. From Clarksville

For two years, Rudolph and his mother made weekly bus trips to Nashville for treatment to regain use of his weak leg. He also later received home massage treatments four times a day from his family members and wore an orthopedic shoe to support his feet for another two years. Due to Meheri's treatment and daily massages from his family members, Rudolph was able to overcome the debilitating effects of polio and at the age of twelve learned to walk without leg braces or orthopedic shoes for support.

Rudolph was initially homeschooled due to frequent illnesses that caused him to miss kindergarten and first grade. He started second grade at Cobb Elementary School in Clarksville in 1947, when he was seven years old. Rudolph attended the all-black Burt High School in Clarksville, where he excelled in basketball and track. During her senior year of high school, Rudolph became pregnant with her first child, Yolanda, who was born a few weeks before enrolling at Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1958.In college, Rudolph continued to compete in track. She also became a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In 1963, Rudolph graduated from Tennessee State with a bachelor's degree in education. Rudolph's college education was paid for by participating in a work-study scholarship program that required him to work two hours a day on the TSU campus.

working life

Early years

Rudolph was first introduced to organized sports at Burt High School, the center of Clarksville's African American community. After several years of treatment to regain use of his left leg, Rudolph chose to follow in his sister Yvonne's footsteps and began playing basketball in the eighth grade. Rudolph continued to play basketball in high school, where he became a starter on the team and began competing in track. In her sophomore year, Rudolph scored 803 points and set a new record for high school girls basketball. Rudolph's high school coach, C.C. Gray, nicknamed him "Skeeter" (for mosquito) because he moved so fast.

While playing for his high school basketball team, Rudolph was spotted by Tennessee State track and field coach Ed Temple, a big break for the active young athlete. The day Temple first laid eyes on the 10th grader, he knew she was a natural athlete. Rudolph had already gotten some track experience on the Burt High School track team two years earlier, mostly as a way to keep busy between basketball seasons. A high school sophomore, Rudolph competed in his first major track event at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Although he lost the race, Rudolph was determined to continue competing and win.

Temple invited fourteen-year-old Rudolph to attend its summer training program at Tennessee State. After attending track camp, Rudolph won all nine events he entered at an Amateur Athletic Union track meet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She continued to train regularly at TSU as a high school student under Temple's guidance. Rudolph ran amateur athletic events known as the Tigerbells with TSU's women's track team for two more years before enrolling as a student at TSU in 1958.