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The first
American woman ever to win three gold medals in the Olympics, Wilma Rudolph
overcame major obstacles to make her mark in the record books and in life.
Rudolph
contracted severe polio as a child. By age 16, she was an All-State basketball
player and a bronze medallist in the 1956 Olympics. She attended Tennessee
State University on a track scholarship, and returned for the 1960 Olympics
- and Olympic glory, winning gold medals in the 100 meter dash, 200 meter
dash and the 4 x 100 meter relay. She set world records in all three events.
She was named United Press Athlete of the Year (1960), the AP Woman Athlete
of the Year (1960, 1961) and received the Sullivan Award as the nation's
top amateur athlete (1961). She has been inducted into the Women's Sports
Hall of Fame and named one of five sports stars selected as America's
Greatest Women Athletes by the Women's Sports Foundation, she is in the
Black Sports Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Rudolph gave
women's track a strong boost in America. Since her competition days, she
has written a best-selling autobiography, Wilma, and created the Wilma
Rudolph Foundation to train young athletes.
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