Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Glodean Rudolphwas an American track and field sprinter, who competed in the 100 and 200 meters dash. Rudolph was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and competed in two Olympic Games, in 1956 and in 1960...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth23 June 1940
CitySaint Bethlehem, TN
CountryUnited States of America
adversity cannot chance lifetime meant reach share spent sports struggle triumph trying woman women
The triumph cannot be had without the struggle. And I know what struggle is. I have spent a lifetime trying to share what it has meant to be a woman first in the world of sports so that other young women have a chance to reach their dreams.
average braces childhood decided enter grew life nine scarlet series until walked
I had a series of childhood illnesses; scarlet fever, pneumonia, polio. I walked with braces until I was at least nine years old. My life wasn't like the average person who grew up and decided to enter the world of sports.
ask god gold life three transition tried win
When I was going through my transition of being famous, I tried to ask God why was I here? what was my purpose? Surely, it wasn't just to win three gold medals. There has to be more to this life than that.
american-athlete
No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helps you.
american-athlete believed mother
My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.
black centuries cigarettes couple doors lighting men opening themselves women
They say things like they don't want men opening doors for them anymore, and they don't want men lighting their cigarettes for them anymore. Big deal. Black women have been opening doors for themselves and lighting their own cigarettes for a couple centuries in this country. Black women don't quibble about things that are not important.
change years white
I know black women in Tennessee who have worked all their lives, from the time they were twelve years old to the day they died. These women don't listen to the women's liberation rhetoric because they know that it's nothing but a bunch of white women who had certain life-styles and who want to change those life-styles.
florence ran
I thought I'd never get to see that. Florence Griffith Joyner -- every time she ran, I ran.
running boys jumping
By the time I was 12 I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.
jobs queens kings
What do you do after you are world-famous and nineteen or twenty and you have sat with prime ministers, kings and queens, the Pope? Do you go back home and take a job? What do you do to keep your sanity? You come back to the real world.
jobs husband adventure
Black women . . . work because their husbands can't make enough money at their jobs to keep everything going. . . . They don't go to work to find fulfillment, or adventure, or glamour and romance, like so many white women think they are doing. Black women work out of necessity.
running running-fast knows
I don't know why I run so fast. I just run.
goal way wonderful
But when you come from a large, wonderful family, there's always a way to achieve your goals.
america champion would-be
I would be disappointed if I were remembered as a runner because I feelthat my contribution to the youth of America has far exceeded the woman who was the Olympic champion.