Wilma Rudolph

High school

Burt High School

College

Tennessee State University

Hall of Fame

⭐ U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame

Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born on June 23, 1940, in St. Bethlehem (now part of Clarksville), Tennessee, the 20th of 22 children in a poor family. As a child she suffered from polio, double pneumonia, and scarlet fever — doctors told her family she would never walk normally. Through determined rehabilitation and family support, she not only walked but became the fastest woman in the world. She attended Burt High School in Clarksville — one of the city's historically Black schools under Tennessee's segregated educational system — where she excelled in basketball before sprinting caught the attention of Tennessee State University coach Ed Temple, who ran the legendary "Tigerbelles" program. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the 16-year-old Rudolph won a bronze medal. At the 1960 Rome Olympics she became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Games: the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 4×100-meter relay — and she set world records in the process. The French press dubbed her "La Gazelle." She returned to Clarksville to a parade in her honor but refused to participate unless the event was desegregated — and it was, making it the first integrated public gathering in Clarksville's history. She was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983. Born in Clarksville, Tennessee.