The Wilma Rudolph Story

Born prematurely, with complications from two bouts with double pneumonia and scarlet
fever, Wilma did not get what you'd call a head start in life. Polio had given her a
crooked, withered left leg and her foot twisted inward. All this made it difficult to
compete with her 20 brothers and sisters in the race to the dinner table!

Although she was told she would never walk again, without leg braces, she disobeyed her
doctor's orders and painfully hobbled around the house for hours trying to gain strength
in the useless leg. At the age of 14 she could run faster than every other high school girl
in the state of Tennessee. At 16, Wilma was eliminated in the semifinals of the 200-meter
dash at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, but went on to win a bronze medal as a
member of team finishing third in the women's 400-meter relay.

She was part happy, part heartbroken during the remainder of her stay in Australia. Ask
any Olympic athlete and he or she will tell you what an honor it is just to participate in
the games. What he or she won't likely admit is the secret disappointment in not fulfilling
a dream of coming home a champion. She was only a teenager in high school, but was
already mentally committing herself to win in 1960.

When we speak of dedication and persistence, there is a tendency to remember only the
highlights of the actual event and gloss over the agonizing realities of what it takes to be
a "world class anything." In those days there were no athletic scholarships for women
and Wilma was paying her own way through Tennessee State University. At the same
time, track workouts were consistent throughout the day, every day. What's more, it was
mandatory for each young woman to maintain a "B" average or better, and carry eighteen
units in order to remain a member of the Tigerbelles track club.
With perseverance learned years before in practicing walking without leg braces, Wilma
began sneaking down the dormitory fire escape to run on the darkened track between 8 to
10 pm. At sunrise she would begin the all-day, monotonous training schedule which
continued for the next twelve hundred days!

When Wilma walked out on the stadium field in the summer of 1960, she was ready. The
nearly 80,000 fans began to cheer wildly, sensing that she was to be one of those special
Olympians who have captured the hearts of spectators of the world throughout history. As
she began to warm up for the first event, the cadenced chant began to well up from the
stands: "Vilma, Vilma, Vilma." There was never a doubt in her mind, or in theirs, who
was to be standing on the top platform when the award presentations were made.

She turned in three electrifying performances breezing to easy victories in the 100-meter
and 200-meter dashes, and anchoring the U.S. Women's Team to a first place finish in the
400-meter relay. Three gold medals -- the first woman in history to ever win three gold
medals in track and field! And each one of the races was won in world record time.

She had been a little crippled girl, who rode the bus to a hospital in Nashville for daily
therapy, with her own impossible dream for the future. Now she was Wilma Rudolph, a
living legend. But overcoming all the odds to make Olympic history is not the real Wilma
Rudolph story.

What makes Wilma Rudolph one of the all-time great Olympians was her modesty, her
warm sincerity and the thousands of unpaid presentations she made at the invitation of
heads of state throughout the world for the next 25 years. Her mission in life was to be a
role model, outside the arena, worthy of emulation and respect by the younger generation.
I nodded my agreement as I listened to one of her final keynotes to struggling young
children: "There may be world class athletes, and superstars, but that doesn't set them
apart as world class people. I've had many of the same problems growing up as you, and I
hope in some small way my story can help one person believe he or she can change,
improve, grow and win over circumstances and environment."