 ~WILMA RUDOLPH~ Gail Devers, she is in you.
Marion Jones, she is in you. Evelyn Ashford, she is in you.
Florence Griffith-Joyner, she was in you too.
More importantly, she is in the unknown girl you've never heard of and perhaps never will. She is in every young African-American girl, in her hopes and in her dreams.
As a study of perseverance and determination, it is hard to top the story of Wilma Rudolph. Stricken with polio as a child, with a crippled leg that required a brace, suffering through pneumonia and scarlet fever, no one would or could have predicted future glory as a three time Olympic gold medalist in track and field. Yet, that is exactly what Wilma Rudolph became.
She wore that brace until the age of eleven, undergoing daily therapy, much of it administered by her family. Two years after discarding the brace, Wilma Rudolph was winning every track race she entered. By the time she was a high school student, she had made the US Olympic team and ran in the 1956 Melbourne Games, winning a bronze medal in a relay event, but was eliminated in the 200 meter run.
Like the young girl determined to shed her leg brace, the teenager redoubled her efforts to improve her track performances. By the 1960 Olympics, she had qualified for the 100 and 200 meters, and the relay. She won gold medals in all three events in Rome, the first American woman to ever capture three golds in a single Olympiad.
She later became a coach and teacher. The best lesson she could pass down was her own story, because Wilma Rudolph's life was more than a track story. It is the tale of overcoming personal and societal obstacles, meeting adversity with determination and perseverance, and leading a life of dignity and grace.
Wilma Rudolph was admired from afar for her ability to run down a track, admired by many who wouldn't want her walking down their streets. She outran the prejudices of the times. She outran the excuses she could have so easily used. The story of Wilma Rudolph needs to be told in order to appreciate the successes of Gail Devers, Marion Jones,Evelyn Ashford, Florence Griffith-Joyner, and the future successes of the unknown girl you've never heard of and perhaps never will.
In the end, Wilma Rudolph could not outrun cancer, but her story lives in every young girl who hopes and dreams. John Burr aka: BlondeStallion
Wilma Rudolph in her homecoming parade in Clarksville, Tennessee after winning three gold medals during the Rome Olympics, 1960. George Silk/LIFE, Copyright Time Inc. Click here to return to main page |
