Name: Wilma Rudolph
Sport: Track and Field
Event(s): 100-meter, 200, 4x100
DOB: 6/23/1940
Birthplace: Saint Bethlehem, Tenn.
Hometown: Clarksville, Tenn.
High School: Burt High School (Clarksville, Tenn.)
College: Tennessee State University
Olympic Experience
- Two-time Olympian (1956, 1960); four-time Olympic medalist (3 golds, 1 bronze)
- Melbourne 1956, bronze (4x100-meter relay)
- Rome 1960, gold (100, 200, 4x100)
Personal:
Daughter of Ed and Blanche Rudolph ...One of 22 children...Survived bouts of polio and scarlet fever as a child...Walked with a metal brace and did physical therapy as a child until she could walk normally...Began playing basketball at age 11...Indoor track and dormitory at Tennessee State University named in her honor...Taught at Cobb University and coached track for her old high school...Founded the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping underprivileged children...Wrote an autobiography entitled, “Wilma” in 1977 that was later made into a movie...Married her high school sweetheart, Robert Eldridge…Mother of four children: Djuanna, Xurry, Yolanda and Robert Jr.