From Disability to Olympic Glory

Wilma Rudolph

Born prematurely, in a family of 21 children, with little to no resources to sustain a professional sports career, Wilma had to face even bigger challenges when she was stricken with polio. Not to mention this was the 1950s, which made things even more complicated.

But she had a fire burning inside her, an unstoppable strength that nothing, not even polio or social barriers, could ever stop her.

She is the absolute proof that nothing is impossible.

“The triumph can’t be had without the struggle― Wilma Rudolph

By the time she was 12, she had overcome polio, started to walk again, to her doctor’s’ surprise, and took up athletics. Eight years later she was already an Olympic champion.

Wilma defied all odds and won three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Rome, in 1960.

She retired shortly afterwards, in 1962, and then devoted the rest of her life to coaching underprivileged children.