Wilma Rudolph

On September 8, 1960, American sprinter Wilma Rudolph won her third gold medal of the Rome Olympics. She was the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics. A short excerpt from the article:

"Rudolph was born prematurely on June 23, 1940, in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee, the 20th of 22 children born to dad Ed across his two marriages. She went on to become a pioneering African American track and field champion, but the road to victory was not an easy one for Rudolph. Stricken with double pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio as a child, she had problems with her left leg and had to wear a brace. It was with great determination and the help of physical therapy that she was able to overcome her disabilities.

'My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.'

Growing up in the segregated South, Rudolph attended the all-Black Burt High School, where she played on the basketball team. A naturally gifted runner, she was soon recruited to train with Tennessee State University track coach Ed Temple."