Athletics · 1960 · Rome, Italy
From Leg Brace to Triple Gold
A sprinter who could not walk unaided until she was twelve becomes the first American woman to win three track and field golds at a single Olympics.
3 (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay)
Golds at Rome
3, at the Games
World records set
"La Gazzella Nera" (The Black Gazelle)
Nickname
Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely into a large family in segregated Tennessee and contracted polio as a young child, which left her in a leg brace and unable to walk normally for years. Her mother organised the physical therapy, much of it at a Black hospital an hour's drive from home, and by her early teens the leg worked properly again.
By 1960 she was the fastest woman in the world. On a Rome track softened by rain she won the 100 metres, won the 200 metres, and anchored the US 4x100m relay team to a third gold, the first American woman to take three in track and field at one Olympics. Italian crowds called her 'La Gazzella Nera', the Black Gazelle, for a stride that witnesses said made her look as though she was barely trying.
Clarksville, Tennessee had a segregated homecoming parade planned for her. Rudolph said she would not attend one, the town gave way, and it became the first fully integrated event in the town's history.
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