Wilma rudolph education

Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, – November 12, ) was an American sprinter who overcame childhood polio and went on to become a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the and Olympic Games.

Rudolph competed in the meter dash and won a bronze medal in the 4 × meter relay at the Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. She also won three gold medals, in the and meter individual events and the 4 x meter relay at the Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. Rudolph was acclaimed the fastest woman in the world in the s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.

Due to the worldwide television coverage of the Summer Olympics, Rudolph became an international star along with other Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), Oscar Robertson, and Rafer Johnson who competed in Italy.

As an Olympic champion in the early s, Rudolph was among the most highly visible black women in America and abroad.

She became a role model for black and female athletes and her Olympic successes helped elevate women's track and field in the United States. Rudolph is also regarded as a civil rights and women's rights pioneer. In Rudolph retired from competition at the peak of her athletic career as the world record-holder in the and meter individual events and the 4 × meter relays.

After competing in the Summer Olympics, the graduate of Tennessee State University became an educator and coach. Rudolph died of brain and throat cancer in , and her achievements are memorialized in a variety of tributes, including a U.S. postage stamp, documentary films, and a made-for-television movie, as well as in numerous publications, especially books for young readers.

Early life and education

Rudolph was born prematurely to Blanche Rudolph at pounds ( kg) on June 23, , in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee (now part of Clarksville).

She was the twentieth of 22 children from her father Ed Rudolph's two marriages. Shortly after Wilma's birth, her family moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where she grew up and attended elementary and high school. Her father, Ed, who worked as a railway porter and did odd jobs in Clarksville, died in ; her mother, Blanche, worked as a maid in Clarksville homes and died in

Rudolph had several early childhood illnesses, including pneumonia and scarlet fever, and she contracted infantile paralysis (caused by the poliovirus) at the age of five.

She recovered from polio but lost strength in her left leg and foot. Physically disabled for much of her early life, Rudolph wore a leg brace until she was twelve years old. Because there was little medical care available to African American residents of Clarksville in the s, Rudolph's parents sought treatment for her at the historically black Meharry Medical College (now Nashville General Hospital at Meharry) in Nashville, Tennessee, about 50 miles (80 km) from Clarksville.

For two years, Rudolph and her mother made weekly bus trips to Nashville for treatments to regain the use of her weakened leg.

She also received subsequent at-home massage treatments four times a day from members of her family and wore an orthopedic shoe for support of her foot for another two years. Because of the treatments she received at Meharry and the daily massages from her family members, Rudolph was able to overcome the debilitating effects of polio and learned to walk without a leg brace or orthopedic shoe for support by the time she was twelve years old.

Rudolph was initially homeschooled due to the frequent illnesses that caused her to miss kindergarten and first grade.

She began attending second grade at Cobb Elementary School in Clarksville in , when she was seven years old. Rudolph attended Clarksville's all-black Burt High School, where she excelled in basketball and track. During her senior year of high school, Rudolph became pregnant with her first child, Yolanda, who was born in , a few weeks before her enrollment at Tennessee State University in Nashville.

Wilma rudolph timeline CBSE class 4. Rudolph's gold-medal victories in Rome also "propelled her to become one of the most highly visible black women across the United States and around the world. Returning home an Olympic hero Rudolph wouldn't go to her homecoming march in case it was not incorporated. CBSE Notes.

In college, Rudolph continued to compete in track. She also became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In , Rudolph graduated from Tennessee State with a bachelor's degree in education. Rudolph's college education was paid by her participation in a work-study scholarship program that required her to work on the TSU campus for two hours a day.

Career

Early years

Rudolph was first introduced to organized sports at Burt High School, the center of Clarksville's African American community.

After completing several years of medical treatments to regain the use of her left leg, Rudolph chose to follow in her sister Yvonne's footsteps and began playing basketball in the eighth grade.

Wilma rudolph childhood information Notes [ edit ]. Rudolph's legacy lies in her efforts to overcome obstacles that included childhood illnesses and a physical disability to become the fastest woman runner in the world in Rudolph returned home to Clarksville after completing a post-games European tour, where she and her Olympic teammates competed in meets in London , West Germany , the Netherlands , and at other venues in Europe. Rudolph's confidence may have flagged at times in her childhood when it seemed she might spend a lifetime in leg braces or even a wheelchair.

Rudolph continued to play basketball in high school, where she became a starter on the team and began competing in track. In her sophomore year, Rudolph scored points and set a new record for high school girls' basketball. Rudolph's high school coach, C. C. Gray, gave her the nickname of "Skeeter" (for mosquito) because she moved so fast.

While playing for her high school basketball team, Rudolph was spotted by Ed Temple, Tennessee State's track and field coach, a major break for the active young athlete.

The day that Temple saw the tenth grader for the first time, he knew she was a natural athlete.

Wilma rudolph She also became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She was selected as All-American in b-ball during secondary school. Her father, Ed, who worked as a railway porter and did odd jobs in Clarksville, died in ; her mother, Blanche, worked as a maid in Clarksville homes and died in Rudolph grew up in a poor family, the 20th of her father Ed's 22 children from two marriages.

Rudolph had already gained some track experience on Burt High School's track team two years earlier, mostly as a way to keep busy between basketball seasons. As a high school sophomore Rudolph competed at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute in her first major track event. Although she lost the race, Rudolph was determined to continue competing and win.

Temple invited fourteen-year-old Rudolph to join his summer training program at Tennessee State.

After attending the track camp, Rudolph won all nine events she entered at an Amateur Athletic Union track meet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Under Temple's guidance she continued to train regularly at TSU while still a high school student. Rudolph raced at amateur athletic events with TSU's women's track team, known as the Tigerbelles, for two more years before enrolling at TSU as a student in

Summer Olympics

When Rudolph was sixteen and a junior in high school, she attended the U.S.

Olympic track and field team trials in Seattle, Washington, and qualified to compete in the meter individual event at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Rudolph, the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic team, was one of five TSU Tigerbelles to qualify for the Melbourne Olympics.

Rudolph was defeated in a preliminary heat of the meter race at the Melbourne Olympic Games, but ran the third leg of the 4 × m relay.

The American team of Rudolph, Isabelle Daniels, Mae Faggs, and Margaret Matthews, all of whom were TSU Tigerbelles, won the bronze medal, matching the world-record time of seconds. The British team won the silver medal. The Australian team, with the and meter gold medalist Betty Cuthbert as their anchor leg, won the gold medal in a time of seconds.

After Rudolph returned to her Tennessee home from the Melbourne Olympic Games, she showed her high school classmates the bronze medal that she had won and decided to try to win a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.

In Rudolph enrolled at Tennessee State, where Temple continued as her track coach. In , at the Pan American Games in Chicago, Illinois, Rudolph won a silver medal in the meter individual event, as well as a gold medal in the 4 × meter relay with teammates Isabelle Dan, Barbara Joe, and Lucinda Williams.

She also won the AAU meter title in and defended it for four consecutive years. During her career, Rudolph also won three AAU indoor titles.

Summer Olympics

While she was still a sophomore at Tennessee State, Rudolph competed in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where she set a world record in the meter dash that stood for eight years.

She also qualified for the Summer Olympics in the meter dash.

At the Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy, Rudolph competed in three events on a cinder track in Rome's Stadio Olimpico: the and meter sprints, as well as the 4 × meter relay. Rudolph, who won a gold medal in each of these events, became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad.

Rudolph ran the finals in the meter dash in a wind-aided time of seconds.

(The record-setting time was not credited as a world record, because the wind, at metres ( yd) per second, exceeded the maximum of 2 metres ( yd).) Rudolph became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the meter race since Helen Stephens's win in the Summer Olympics. Rudolph won another gold medal in the finals of the meter dash with a time of seconds, after setting a new Olympic record of seconds in the opening heat.

After these wins she was hailed throughout the world as "the fastest woman in history."

On September 7, , the temperature climbed toward 40 °C ( °F) as thousands of spectators jammed the stadium. Rudolph combined efforts with her Olympic teammates from Tennessee State—Martha Hudson, Lucinda Williams, and Barbara Jones—to win the 4 × meter relays with a time of seconds, after setting a world record of seconds in the semifinals.

Rudolph ran the anchor leg for the American team in the finals and nearly dropped the baton after a pass from Williams, but she overtook Germany's anchor leg to win the relay in a close finish. Rudolph had a special, personal reason to hope for victory—to pay tribute to Jesse Owens, the celebrated American athlete and star of the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, who had been her inspiration.

Rudolph was one of the most popular athletes of the Rome Olympics and emerged from the Olympic Games as "The Tornado, the fastest woman on earth." The Italians nicknamed her "La Gazzella Nera" ("The Black Gazelle").

The French called her "La Perle Noire" ("The Black Pearl"), as well as "La Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Along with other Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali), Oscar Robertson, and Rafer Johnson, Rudolph became an international star due to the first worldwide television coverage of the Olympics that year.

The Rome Olympics launched Rudolph into the public spotlight and the media cast her as America's athletic "leading lady" and a "queen," with praises of her athletic accomplishments as well as her feminine beauty and poise.

Post-Olympic career

Rudolph returned home to Clarksville after completing a post-games European tour, where she and her Olympic teammates competed in meets in London, West Germany, the Netherlands, and at other venues in Europe.

Wilma rudolph childhood pictures: Olympic Games. At 11 years old, Rudolph's mom found her playing b-ball outside. June 27, As an Olympic champion in the early s, Rudolph was among the most highly visible black women in America and abroad.

Rudolph's hometown of Clarksville celebrated "Welcome Wilma Day" on October 4, , with a full day of festivities. Because Rudolph adamantly insisted, her homecoming parade and banquet became the first fully integrated municipal event in the city's history. An estimated 1, attended the banquet in her honor and thousands lined the city streets to watch the parade.

Rudolph's gold-medal victories in Rome also "propelled her to become one of the most highly visible black women across the United States and around the world." Her Olympic star status also "gave an enormous boost to the indoor track circuit in the months following the Olympic Games in Rome." In Rudolph competed in the prestigious, Los Angeles Invitational indoor track meet, where thousands turned out to watch her run.

Besides, she was invited to compete in New York Athletic Club track events and became the first woman invited to compete at the Millrose Games. Rudolph was also invited to compete at the Penn Relays and the Drake Relays, among others.

Following her Olympic victories, the United States Information Agency made a ten-minute documentary film, Wilma Rudolph: Olympic Champion (), to highlight her accomplishments on the track.

Rudolph's appearance in on To Tell the Truth, an American television game show, and later as a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show also helped promote her status as an iconic sports star.

In Rudolph married William Ward, a North Carolina College at Durham track team member; they divorced in In the interim, Rudolph retired from track competition at the age of twenty-two, following victories in the meter and 4 x meter-relay races at the U.S.–Soviet meet at Stanford University in At the time of her retirement, Rudolph was still the world record-holder in the meter ( seconds set on July 19, ), meter ( seconds set on July 9, ), and 4 x meter-relay events.

She had also won seven national AAU sprint titles and set the women's indoor track record of seconds in the yard dash. As Rudolph explained it, she retired at the peak of her athletic career because she wanted to leave the sport while still at her best. As such, she did not compete at the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, saying, "If I won two gold medals, there would be something lacking.

I'll stick with the glory I've already won like Jesse Owens did in "

After retiring from competition, Rudolph continued her education at Tennessee State and earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education in That year she also made a month-long trip to West Africa as a goodwill ambassador for the U.S State Department.

Wilma rudolph childhood facts Her father, Ed Rudolph, had eleven children by a first marriage while his second marriage yielded eight more, of which Wilma was the fifth. More seasoned kin helped care for the debilitated child who had appeared on the scene rashly. New entry 1 May 17, 2 June 6, 3 June 11, 4 July 2, 5 August 4, 6 September 15, 7 October 13, 8 November 16, 9 November 21, She also had been diagnosed with throat cancer.

Rudolph served as U.S. representative to the Friendship Games in Dakar, Senegal, and visited Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and Upper Volta, where she attended sporting events, visited schools, and made guest appearances on television and radio broadcasts. She also attended the premiere of the U.S. Information Agency's documentary film that highlighted her track career.

In May , a few weeks after returning from Africa, Rudolph participated in a civil rights protest in her hometown of Clarksville to desegregate one of the city's restaurants.

Within a short time, the mayor announced that the city's public facilities, including its restaurants, would become fully integrated. Rudolph also married Robert Eldridge, who had fathered her child when she was in high school, later that year. The couple had three additional children, but divorced after seventeen years of marriage.

Later years

Rudolph did not earn significant money as an amateur athlete and shifted to a career in teaching and coaching after her retirement from track competition.

She began as a second-grade teacher at Cobb Elementary School, where she had attended as a child, and coached track at Burt High School, where she had once been a student-athlete herself, but conflict forced her to leave the position.

Rudolph moved several times over the years and lived in various places such as Chicago, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Saint Louis, Missouri; Detroit, Michigan; Tennessee; California; and Maine.

Rudolph's autobiography, Wilma: The Story of Wilma Rudolph, was published in It served as the basis for several other publications and films.

By at least twenty-one books on Rudolph's life had been published for children from pre-school youth to high school students.

In addition to teaching, Rudolph worked for nonprofit organizations and government-sponsored projects that supported athletic development among American children. In Boston, Massachusetts, she became involved in the federal Job Corps program, and in served as a track specialist for Operation Champion.

In Rudolph established and led the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Indianapolis, Indiana, that trains youth athletes. In Rudolph joined DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, as director of its women's track program and served as a consultant on minority affairs to the university's president.

She went on to host a local television show in Indianapolis.

Rudolph was also a publicist for Universal Studios as well as a television sports commentator for ABC Sports during the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, and lit the cauldron to open the Pan American Games in Indianapolis in in front of 80, spectators at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In , two years before her untimely death, Rudolph became a vice president at Nashville's Baptist Hospital.

Marriage and family

Rudolph dated boxing legend Muhammad Ali during the early s.

She was married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce. On October 14, , she married William "Willie" Ward, a member of the North Carolina College at Durham track team. They divorced in May After her graduation from Tennessee State in Rudolph married Robert Eldridge, her high school sweetheart, with whom she already had a daughter, Yolanda, born in Rudolph and Eldridge had four children: two daughters (Yolanda, born in , and Djuanna, born in ) and two sons (Robert Jr., born in , and Xurry, born in ).

The seventeen-year marriage ended in divorce.

Death and legacy

In July (shortly after her mother's death), Rudolph was diagnosed with brain cancer. She also had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Her condition deteriorated rapidly, and she died on November 12, , at the age of fifty-four, at her home in Brentwood, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.

Rudolph's legacy lies in her efforts to overcome obstacles that included childhood illnesses and a physical disability to become the fastest woman runner in the world in At the Rome Olympics, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad.

Rudolph was one of the first role models for black and female athletes. Her Olympic success "gave a tremendous boost to women's track in the United States." Rudolph's celebrity also caused gender barriers to be broken at previously all-male track and field events such as the Millrose Games.

In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Rudolph is remembered for her contributions to youth, including founding and heading the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, which trains youth athletes.

Her life is remembered in numerous publications, especially books for young readers.

Wilma rudolph family

Wilma rudolph cause of death

Wilma rudolph children

Wilma rudolph story

Wilma rudolph interesting facts

Rudolph's life has been featured in documentary films and made-for-television movies too:

• Walter de Hoog directed Wilma Rudolph: Olympic Champion (), the United States Information Agency's ten-minute film documentary of her accomplishments on the track.
• In , Bud Greenspan produced Wilma (also known as The Story of Wilma Rudolph), a made-for-television docudrama adaptation of her autobiography starring Shirley Jo Finney as Rudolph and costarring Cicely Tyson, Jason Bernard, and Denzel Washington in one of his first roles.
• In , Positive Edge Education Ltd.

  commissioned Pixel Revolution Films, a United Kingdom-based film company, to produce three short inspiration dramas to be screened in schools, including one about Rudolph's life. Unlimited () was written and directed by Ian and Dominic Higgins.

Awards and honors

Rudolph was named United Press International Athlete of the Year () and Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year ( and ).

She was also the recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award () for the top amateur athlete in the United States and the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Award (). In addition, Rudolph had a private meeting with PresidentJohn F. Kennedy in the Oval Office. Rudolph was also honored with the National Sports Award ().

Rudolph was inducted into several women's and sports halls of fame:

• Black Sports Hall of Fame ()
• U.S.

  National Track and Field Hall of Fame ()

• U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame ()
• National Women's Hall of Fame ()
• National Black Sports and Entertainment Hall of Fame ()

In , the Women's Sports Foundation selected Rudolph as one of the five greatest women athletes in the United States. In , the foundation presented its first Wilma Rudolph Courage Award to Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

In , a portion of U.S.

Route 79 was named Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, extending from Interstate 24, exit 4, in Clarksville to the Red River (Lynnwood-Tarpley) bridge near the Kraft Street intersection. On November 21, , the Wilma Rudolph Memorial Commission placed a black marble marker at her grave site in Edgefield Missionary Baptist Church.

In April , a life-size bronze statue of Rudolph was erected "at the southern end of the Cumberland River Walk at the base of the Pedestrian Overpass" at College Street and Riverside Drive in Clarksville.

In , the city of Clarksville, TN built the Wilma Rudolph Event Center, located at Liberty Park on Cumberland Drive. The life-size bronze statue was moved there from its previous location at Riverside Drive, and stands there now near the entrance of the building.

On December 2, , Tennessee State University named its indoor track in Rudolph's honor.

On August 11, (nine months after Rudolph's death), Tennessee State University dedicated a new, six-story dormitory as the Wilma G. Rudolph Residence Center. The building houses upper class and graduate women.

Wilma rudolph childhood pictures

Wilma rudolph biography

Wilma Rudolph Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life ...

It provides Wi-Fi access and includes a computer lab, beauty salon, and cafeteria. In , Governor Don Sundquist proclaimed that June 23 be known as "Wilma Rudolph Day" in Tennessee.

The December 29, , issue of Sports Illustrated ranked Rudolph first on its list of the top fifty greatest sports figures of the twentieth-century from Tennessee.

ESPN ranked Rudolph forty-first in its listing of the twentieth century's greatest athletes.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Berlin in , Berlin American High School (BAHS) was turned over to the people of Berlin and became the "Gesamtschule Am Hegewinkel". The school was renamed the "Wilma Rudolph Oberschule" in her honor in summer

On July 14, , the U.S.

Postal Service issued a cent postage stamp, the fifth in its Distinguished Americans series, in recognition of her accomplishments.

See also

In Spanish: Wilma Rudolph para niños