Autumn Smith
Mrs.Cox
Period 3
17 February 2015
An All American
About 90 % of children ages 19-35 months are vaccinated for Polio in the US. Wilma Rudolph was the only American woman runner ever to win three gold medals in the Olympic games. Her performance was all the more remarkable in light of the fact that she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever as a young child and could not walk without a brace(Wilma Rudolph). Through her physical and hard work, she went on to become a gifted runner(UXL Biographies 1). Wilma Rudolph can be consider one of the worlds most influential track stars for her olympic success despite dealing with the effects of Polio
Wilma Rudolph’s childhood had a huge impact on her adult life and success. Rudolph was born…show more content… During her sophomore year in highschool Rudolph entered her first major track meet at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. Rudolph lost every race, but her losses convinced her that if she wanted to be successful in track she would need the proper coach(UXL Bio 1)Edward Temple, the track coach at the Tennessee State University, invited Rudolph to training camp(UXL Bio 1). She ran twenty miles and used cross country to build her endurance. Temple took his team to the National Amatuer Athletic Union contest in Philadelphia, where Rudolph won all nine races(Encyclopedia of World Bio). As a junior Rudolph participated in the Olympic trials in seattle, and made the team as its youngest member. In 1956 she attended the Olympic games in Melbourne, Australia and ran third leg, and the team won a bronze medal(UXL Bio…show more content… She was also the first woman to be invited to run in such meets as the New York athletics, club meets, The Millrose games, the Los Angeles games, the Penn Relays, and the Drake relays.For more than two decades, Wilma Rudolph impacted the lessons she learned about amatuer athletics to other young woman and men. She was the author of an autobiography, Wilma published in 1977. Rudolph help and run inner city clinics and served as a constant to a University track teams. She also founded her own organization, the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, dedicated to promote amatuer athletes.”I think that made life good for me is that I never looked back” (Rudolph told Ebony). Rudolph graduated from Tennessee State University on May 27,1963, and accept a job of being as a girl’s track coach and for a second grade teacher at the school she attend. She married her high school sweetheart Robert Eldridge(UXL Bio 1). Afterwards she moved to Indiana where she became the director of a community center. Rudolph moved to Boston and became involved with the Job Corps in Poland Springs, Maine. Rudolph was a member of the united states Olympic Hall of fame and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. She traveled a lot and is known for her motivational speeches to youngsters. “ I love working with kids, its the motherly instinct of me”(Newsday). On November 12, 1994,