Wilma Rudolph one of the great athletes to emerge in the 1960 Rome Games was at age 20 probably just lucky to be alive let along winning 3 gold medals. She was striken with polio at age 4, wearing a brace until age 9, as a teenageer she had scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox and measles. Yet she developed in her teens into a great athlete.  She was the 20th of her father’s 22 children born in Tennessee in 1940. When she was born she only weighted 4.5 pounds.

At the age of 16 she made the American Olympic team and was part of the bronze medal 4 X100 relay team. The 1960 Rome Games though would be where she would shine. She won the 100 meters with a 11.0 but was denied the world record because the run was wind-aided. At the time the race took place the temperature in the Olympic Stadium was 110 degrees. In the 200 meters she won gold with a new Olympic record, and running in the 4X100 meter relay with her teammates from Tennessee State [the Tigerbelles} they set a new world record in winning the gold. She went into the Olympics wanting to do well to honor her hero, the great Jesse Owens. She couldn’t have honored him more. Also at the games she caught the attention of many-including a young Cassius Clay who had a massive crush on her.

Her nickname was “The Tornado” The Italians came up with another nickname for her “The Black Gazelle” She would be named by the Associated Press the “Woman Athlete Of The Year” in both 1960 and 1961. She would retire from athletics in 1962. She died far too young, in 1994 at age 54 of brain cancer.