Wilma Rudolph Biography

Wilma Rudolph, the name which has inspired a generation of athletes, especially women, is one of the greatest and the most revered athletes of the twentieth century. Who knew that this premature baby, who later suffered from polio, would overcome all odds to become a champion athlete? Her left leg which was partially deformed was cured when she was twelve and to everyone’s surprise, this little girl who was hardly able to walk without braces, walked all by herself! Soon she was playing with other kids, about which she once said, “By the time I was 12, I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.” She came into the limelight after winning a bronze in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. She made history in the 1960 Rome Olympics when she won three gold medals and came to be known as ‘The Tornado’ and ‘the fastest woman on earth’. However, her retirement came quite early (when she was just twenty two) and she chose not to participate in Olympics for the third time. The time when she flourished as an athlete, neither the media nor any big agencies endorsed athletes, like the way they do nowadays. Therefore, even after setting records at the Olympic Games Rudolph’s livelihood was quite modest. She had to rely on jobs, other than just pursuing the sport.