WILMA RUDOLPH
Running the anchor leg, American Wilma Rudolph crosses the finish line to win the women's 400-meter relay at the
1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The victory gave Rudolph her third gold medal of the Olympics. Rudolph was the first
American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Although she contracted double
pneumonia, polio, and scarlet fever at the age of 4 and could not walk normally until she was 11, she became an
outstanding
basketball player in high school. She also won a bronze medal in the 4 ×100-meter relay race in the 1956
Olympics.