Wilma Rudolph was an American sprinter who won three gold medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, becoming the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. She overcame polio as a child which left her with a disabled leg. Through determined treatment and training, she went on to break records and become the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s. Rudolph faced racism and sexism but found success on the international stage. She used her platform to advocate for civil rights and women's empowerment.

1. WILMA
RUDOLPH

2. “THE REWARD IS NOT SO GREAT WITHOUT THE STRUGGLE.”

3. BORN : JUNE 23,1940
DIED : NOV 12,1994
MOTHER : ED RUDOLPH
FATHER : BALANCHE RUDOLPH
NICKNAME : SKEETER
SPOUSES : ROBERT ELDRIDGE,WILLIAM WARD
EDUCATION : TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
DISEASES : POLIO
BOOKS : WILMA (AUTOBIOGRAPHY,1977)
AWARDS : 1960-GOLD MEDAL IN ROME FOR 100 METER
1960-GOLD MEDAL IN ROME FOR 200M
1960-GOLD MEDAL IN ROME FOR 400 M RELAY
1956-BRONZE MEDAL IN MELBOURN FOR 400 M RELAY

4. EARLY LIFE
Wilma Rudolph was born on June 23,1940,in Clarksville,
Tennessee. Wilma was born into a large family. She was the 20th of 22
children her parents, Ed and Blanche Rudolph, were honest
,hardworking people but were very poor. Rudolph worked as a railroad
porter and handyman Mrs. Rudolph cooking, laundry and house
cleaning for wealthy white families.
In 1940 millions of Americans were poor because of the great
depression. The Rudolph managed to make ends meet by doing things
like making the girls dresses out of flour sacks.

5. STRUGGLE FROM BIRTH

6. Wilma was born prematurely and weighed only 4.5
pounds. Because of racial segregation, she and her mother were not permitted
to be cared for at the local hospital it was for whites only. There was only one
black doctor in Clarksville, and Rudolph budget was tight, so Wilma's mother
spent the next several years nursing Wilma through one illness after another:
measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox and double pneumonia. The doctor
told Mrs. Rudolph that Wilma would never walk. At first Wilma was tortured at
home by her family because she was crippled. But Mrs. Rudolph would not give
up on Wilma. She found out that she could be treated at Meharry hospital, the
black medical college of frisk university in Nashville. Wilma’s mother took her
there twice a week for two years, until she was able to walk with the aid of a
metal leg brace.

7. SCHOOLING AND EDUCATION
Rudolph was initially homeschooled due to the
frequent illness that caused her to miss kindergarten and first
grade. She began attending second grade at Cobb Elementary
School in Clarksville in 1947 when she was seven years old,
Rudolph attended Clarksville's all black high school, where she
excelled in basketball and track. During her senior years of high
school Rudolph became pregnant with her first child, Yolanda, who
was born in 1958,a few weeks prior to her enrollment at the
Tennessee state university in Nashville.in college Rudolph
continued to compete in track. Rudolph continued to compete in
track. Rudolph graduated from Tennessee state with a bachelors
degree in education in 1963. Rudolph's college education was paid
for through her participation in a work study scholarship program
tht required her to work on the TSU campus for two hours a day.

8. SPEED TO SUCCESS

9. When Rudolph was sixteen and a junior in high
school, she attended the 1956 US Olympic track and qualified to
compete in the 200 meter individual events at the 1956 summer
Olympic in Melbourne, Australia. She was the youngest member
of the us Olympic team. Rudolph was defeated in a preliminary
heat of the 200 meter race, but ran the third leg of the 400 relay.
Won the bronze medal, matching the world record time of 44.9
seconds.
1956 SUMMER OLYMPICS

11. 1960 SUMMER OLYMPICS
At the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome, Italy,
Rudolph competed in three events on a under track in Rome's Studio
Olympico. The 100 and 200 meter sprints, as well as the 400 relay .Rudolph,
who won a gold medal in each of these events, became the first woman to
win three gold medals in single Olympiad.
Rudolph won another gold medal in the finals of
the 200 meter dash with a time of 24.0 seconds, after setting a new Olympic
record pf 23.2 seconds in the opening heat. After these wins she was hailed
throughout the world as “the fastest woman in history.”

13. WORLD WIDE FAMILIERITY
Rudolph was one of the most popular
athletes of the 1960 Rome Olympic and emerged from
the Olympic games as ‘the tornado, the fastest women
on earth. 'The Italians nicknamed her “La Gazelle Near
(the black gazelle)” and the French called her ‘La Perle
Noire (the black pearl)’. along with other 1960 Olympic
athletes such as Carrius clay(Muhammed Ali), Oscar
Robertson and Rafer Johnson, Rudolph became an
international star due to the first worldwide television
coverage of the Olympics that year. The 1960 Rome
Olympics launched Rudolph into the public spotlight and
the media cast her as Americas athletic ‘Leading lady’
and a ‘Queen’ with praise of her athletic accomplishment
as well as her feminine beauty and poise.

14. ACHIEVEMENTS AND CAREER
Rudolph retired from track
competition at the age of twenty two following victories
in the 100 meter and 400 meter relay races at a US-
soviet meet at Stanford university in 1962.Rudolph was
world reward holder in the 100 meter (11.2 seconds set
on July 19, 1961),200 meter (22.0 seconds set on July 9
1960) and 400 meter relay events. Won seven national
AAU sprint tittles and set the women's indoor track
record of 6.9 seconds in the 60 yard dash. Rudolph
served as US representative to the 1963 friendship
games in Dakar, Senegal. Rudolph severed as a
television sports commentator for ABC sports during the
1984 summer Olympics in Los Angles, California.in 1992
Rudolph became a vice president at Nashville's Baptist
hospital.

15. MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Rudolph was
married twice. On October 14,1961,she married
William ‘willie’ ward a member of the north
Caroline college at Durham track team. They
divorced in may 1963.after her graduation from
Tennessee state in 1963 Rudolph married Robert
Eldrige,her high school friend, with whom she
already had a daughter, Yolanda, born in
1958.Rudolph and Eldrige had four children: two
daughters Yolanda and Djuanna and two sons
Robert Jr and Xurry. The seventeen years
marriage ended in divorce.

16. BOOKS AND SHOWS
Rudolph's Autobiography Wilma: The story of Wilma Rudolph,
was published in 1977.it served as the basic for several other
publications and films, by 2014 at least twenty one books on Rudolph
life had been published for children from preschool youth to high
school students.
Following her Olympic victories the United States Information
Agency made ten minute documentary film. Wilma Rudolph: Olympic
champion (1961),to highlight her accomplishments on the track.
Rudolphs appearance in 1960 on “To tell the truth", an American
television game show and later as a gust on “The Ed Sullivan show
also helped promote her status as an iconic sports star.
Her life is also remembered in Wilma unlimited(2015)a short
documentary film for school audience.

18. AWARDS AND HONORS

19. • United press international athlete of the year (1960)
• Associated press woman athlete of the year (1960 and 1961)
• James e . Sullivan award (1960)
• Babe Didrikson Zaharias award (1962)
• National sports award (1993)
• Inducted into black athletes hall of fame (1973)
• Inducted into national track and field hall of fame (1974)
• Inducted into US Olympic hall of fame (1983)
• National collegiate athletic associations (1987)
• Silver anniversary award

20. 12 NOVEMBER 1994
After death of mother in July
1994,Rudolph was diagnosed with brain
cancer. She also had been diagnosed with
throat cancer. Her condition worsened day by
day and she died on November 12,1994 at the
age fifty four, at her home in Brentwood, a
suburb of Nashville, Tennessee. Thousands of
mourners filled Tennessee state university's
Kean hall on November 17,1994 for the
,memorial service in her honor, across
Tennessee, the state flag flew at half mast.

21. T
RI
B
U
T
ES

22. Rudolph has been memorialized with a variety of
tributes, including her image on a commemorative US, Postage stamp.
In 1994,a portion of route 79 was named Wilma
Rudolph Boulevard.
On November 21,1995,the Wilma Rudolph memorial
commission placed a black marble marks at her Grave rite in Clarksville
Forster Memorial Garden Cemetery.
In April 1996,a life size bronze statue of Rudolph was
erected at college street and riverside drive in Clarksville.
In 1997,governer don Sundqvist proclaimed that June
23 be known as “Wilma Rudolph day”in Tennessee.

23. Wilma Rudolph is truly inspiration
for every generation and every
woman's around the world.

25. THANK YOU