The Story of a Legendary Runner
She was born on June 23, 1940, in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee.
She was born premature, as a result, she was a weak baby. She was a sickly child who had to wear a brace on her left leg. She had many diseases as a child, including polio, scarlet fever, and double pneumonia. Her left leg was partially deformed. Having born into a large family meant that she couldn't afford treatment in the finest hospitals
Life of a child couldn't possibly get worser than this. Her doctors told her that she would never walk again. Thank God, she had great mother. Her mother told her that she would walk. She chose to believe her mother instead of doctors. She wore braces to help herself walk. Her family gave her daily massages on her leg and also drove her to physical therapy sessions. All of these things put together led to the astonishing development of Wilma's taking off the braces entirely when she was 9. Two years later, she was playing basketball!
The youngest member of the U.S. track and field team at age 16, she won a bronze medal in the 400-meter relay at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
She became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympic Games that were held in Rome, Italy, in the year 1960. The first-class sprinter instantly became one of the most popular athletes of the Rome Games as well as an international superstar, lauded around the world for her groundbreaking achievements.
Later in life, she formed a Foundation to promote amateur athletics.
She is none other than Wilma Rudolph. When the world around her, even the doctors believed that she'd never walk, she went on to become fastest running woman in the world. Truly inspirational and touching, isn't it?
Wilma once said
"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."
