50 greatest Summer Olympians in history
By John Buhler
26. Wilma Rudolph, Track and Field.
American sprinter Wilma Rudolph overcame tremendous physical adversity during her childhood to become the fastest woman on the planet in the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome. Rudolph was born premature in 1940, and by the time she was 12 had already conquered both polio and scarlet fever.
Rudolph was discovered by Tennessee State track coach Ed Temple in 1953. Three years later, at the 1956 Melbourne Games, Rudolph seized her first medal, a bronze in the 4×100 m relay, at the age of 16.
Four years later in Rome, the first Olympiad to be broadcast on television, Rudolph won three golds (in the 100 m, 200 m, and 4×100 relay), in the process becoming an overnight star.
She would eventually return to her native Nashville, where she settled into a career as a teacher and track coach. Rudolph passed away in 1994 at the age of 54 following complications from a a brain tumor. But her willingness to compete despite constant physical limitations undoubtedly made Rudolph a true U.S. Olympic legend.
Next: 25. Akinori Nakayama.