Wilma Rudolph – An American Hero, A Gym Rat’s Hero
from THE GYM RAT'S DAILY SQUEAKS
http://marksfitness.wordpress.com/
With me, inspiration is a big deal. Books, movies, and songs inspire me. People in my life inspire me. Great heroes and everyday people inspire me. But true stories of everyday people who become great heroes are what inspire me the most. Just close your eyes and imagine this… oh wait, you can’t, you’re reading… OK, just imagine this. A penniless black family in segregated Tennessee in 1940 has their 20th child! I sometimes make typo’s on this blog, but that isn’t one of them - 20! She is born prematurely at 4.5 pounds, and in her infancy, they noticed her foot is growing crooked. The closest hospital is white only, so her mother brings her to a hospital 50 miles away in Nashville that takes black patients. She is diagnosed with a form of infant polio. Doctors doubt that she will walk. But, when other babies learn to walk on their own, this child learns to walk with a crutch and braces. She can’t go to school, as it was a very cruel world for “cripples” back then.
As her father and mother worked hard to keep the kids fed, the kids, at the mother’s direction, would take turns massaging the child’s legs, as doctors advised that such treatment MIGHT help stimulate muscle and nerve growth. And of course, the child was determined to walk without the brace. Along the way, she had scarlet fever, measles, chicken pox, and whooping-cough. The determination remained.
Wilma Rudolph did walk. By age 12, she walked to her “blacks only” school, without braces or crutches. She began to run slowly. She played tag with other kids. She began to run faster. She played basketball. She ran faster…. and faster…. and faster.
And in 1956, she was part of the Women’s 4 X 100 American Track and Field Relay team that took the Bronze Medal in the Melbourne Summer Olympics.
Amazing story? Sit back, we’re just warming up.
In the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Wilma won a Gold Medal this time in the 4 X 100, helping her team set a world record. She also won Gold in the 200, setting a world record by herself. And finally, in 110 degree weather, she ran the 100 meter race. When she finished before anyone else, she became the first American woman to win 3 Gold Medals in one Olympics. After that, when people spoke of her, they spoke of “the fastest woman in the world”. Not bad for a girl who wasn’t supposed to walk.
As Wilma Rudolph crossed the finish line in those three events, I am certain that her thoughts were about her family who put hours and hours into massaging those legs to become the powerful engines that propelled her to Gold. Those medals truly belonged to the entire Rudolph family.
I read about her whenever I feel I have the right to feel sorry for myself.
Enjoy, and practice your Italian!!! –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY20XeSJtUs
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Tune In Wednesday – “Anything Can Happen” Day
If you have any questions, comments, “beefs”, or suggestions for future topics, feel free to let me know. Reach me at thinwizzyfit@gmail.com, and feel welcome to link up with me through Facebook and/or LinkedIn.
