US Olympic Hall of Famer Wilma Rudolph

Wilma Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) is an outstanding athlete and a role model for the ages. Ms. Rudolph is remembered mostly for being “the fastest woman in the world” and for winning three gold medals in a single Summer Olympics. Her achievements came despite being perpetually in poor health as a child.

She was born prematurely and weighed in at 4.5 pounds. As a child she suffered from pneumonia, scarlet fever and then polio. Burdened with a leg brace, doctors warned that she would not be able to walk again. But her large family, of 22 children, helped her recovery, and eventually she played basketball in high school.

She had her first child as a high school senior but continued as an athlete and switched to track. She won a bronze medal in the 1956 Olympics games, and then in 1960 she earned her three golds. She also competed in several other national and international sporting events.

Rudolph made her mark also as an activist and demanded that a homecoming parade be an integrated event. She completed her degree at Tennessee State University and worked for many years as a teacher and coach, and also hosted a TV show and worked as a sports commentator on TV.

Rudolph is in the Black Sports Hall of Fame, US Olympic Hall of Fame, and earned many other honors. Talented, ambitious, driven and a mother: Wilma Rudolph is a Queen Mother for the ages.

Watch Wilma Rudolph in the 100 meter race at the Olympics in Rome 1960