Olympic heroes No 16: Wilma Rudolph

Published on 06/07/2012 00:00

BORN prematurely in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1940 into a family of 22 children, Wilma Rudolph contracted polio at the age of four and had to wear a leg brace until she was nine.

Yet, at the age of 20, in Rome in 1960, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympic Games, sprinting to glory in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

Four years earlier, at the age of only 16, she competed in her first Olympic Games, in Melbourne, and won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay.

After she retired from track competition at the age of 22, Rudolph studied elementary education at Tennessee State University and went on to enjoy a careers as a teacher and sports commentator on national television.

She was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 and died in 1994, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.