More Quotes by Wilma Rudolph
My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.
i had a series of childhood illnesses... scarlet fever.... pneumonia.... Polio. I walked with braces until I was at least nine years old. My life wasn't like the average person who grew up and decided to enter the world of sports.
Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.
I loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me.
When I was going through my transition of being famous, I tried to ask God, why was I here? What was my purpose? Surely, it wasn't just to win three gold medals. There has to be more to this life than that.
i thought I'd never get to see that. Florence Griffith Joyner -- every time she ran, I ran.
The triumph can't be had without the struggle.
By the time I was 12 I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.
I don't consciously try to be a role model, so I don't know if I am or not. That's for other people to decide.
Black women . . . work because their husbands can't make enough money at their jobs to keep everything going. . . . They don't go to work to find fulfillment, or adventure, or glamour and romance, like so many white women think they are doing. Black women work out of necessity.
