Inspirational Olympic Stories #7 - Wilma Rudolph's triumph over adversities

Only a few days remain till the 2012 London Games begin. With that in mind, we continue looking back at our list of Inspirational Olympic Stories.

If you are a four year old born prematurely suffering from scarlet fever, pneumonia, infantile paralysis and are supposed to wear braces in your legs for the rest of your life, you are generally not supposed to win three gold medals at the greatest stage in World Athletics.

But, those rules does not apply if you are named Wilma Rudolph.

# 7 – Wilma Rudolph’s Story

Born as the 20th of the 22 children to a Railway Porter and a Maid in Tennessee, Nashville, Wilma Rudolph’s legs were crippled at her birth itself. Her parents took her to constant doctor checkups and massaged her legs every few hours so that she could withstand the pain. Clearly, the thoughts of walking properly let alone running were out of her minds.

Wilma crosses the line

Polio attacked her soon and at that time, it was a very hard task to find a hospital that would treat a black kid with pneumonia. Finally, they found a hospital that treated Wilma which was 50 miles away from their place. Wilma and her mother visited that hospital more than 200 times in two years. After that, her mother was advised to give Wilma intensive massage therapies four times a day. And, finally at the age of nine, America’s Sickest Girl was able to walk without braces.

“My doctor told me I would never walk again,” “My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.” – She said when asked about her childhood.

By the age of 12, the crooked leg of Wilma was gone and she was running, jumping and practically doing everything. She was accepted into the Basketball team of Burt High School and impressed the coached with her size and speed. On one game, she scored 49 points and amazed everyone in the stadium.

Ed Temple was the track and field coach of Tennessee State University in North Nashville. He wanted his friend Gray to start Burt High to start a Track and Field team at his school. Gray hesitated at first but he eventually agreed. In the first year of Track and Field at Burt High, Wilma Rudolph was undefeated in all races ranging from 50m to 200m including the 4×100 relay events. Amazed by her talent, Ed Temple immediately took her to his college team.

Ed took her to the 1956 Olympic Games trial along with other undergrads of the Tennessee University. The team amazed everyone at the trials and were sent to the Helsinki Games. In Helsinki, the team of unproved youngsters ran bravely and came back with a bronze medal.

Back at school Rudolph showed her classmates her medal. “They passed my bronze medal around so that everybody could touch, feel and see what an Olympic medal is like,”. Four years passed and now Ed Temple was the Coach of the US Women’s Track and Field team. The trails for the 1960 Rome Olympics began and Wilma rushed on to the bus to reach the venue. The bus driver refused to drive the bus as it had black athletes. When Wilma finally reached the venue, she broke the existing 200m world record.

In Rome, despite having a bad start, she won gold in the 100m race. Her dominance was even more prolific in the 200m section when none of her rivals were even in the frame when she finished the race. She also won gold in the 4 x 100m relay.

In 1963, Wilma retired from professional racing and began involving in non-profitable activities. Wilma Rudolph overcame heaps and heaps of odds stacked against her to become one of the most prolific athletes of the 1960s.

In her autobiography, she says “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit,” , true isn’t it? Human Spirit indeed is truly amazing!

Here is a video showing Wilma’s story

Here is a list of other entires that made it to our list

# 1 – Derek Redmond and the Spirit of Olympics

# 2 – The Black Power Salute

# 3 – Bolt strikes Beijing

# 4 – Nadia Comaneci’s perfect 10

# 5 – Lawrence Lemieux’s sacrifice

# 6 – Greg Louganis’ Comeback