13 威尔玛 鲁道夫

13 Wilma Rudolph

People called Wilma Rudolph “the Black Pearl”, “the Black Gazelle” and “the fastest woman in the world”. In nineteen sixty, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympics.

Wilma Rudolph was born in nineteen forty, in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee. She was born too early and only weighed two kilograms. She had many illnesses when she was very young, including pneumonia and scarlet fever. She also had polio, which damaged her left leg. When she was six years old, she began to wear metal leg braces because she could not use that leg. Every week, Wilma’s mother drove her to a special doctor eighty kilometers away. Here, she got physical treatments to help heal her leg.

She later said: “My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.”

Soon, her family’s attention and care showed results. By the time she was nine years old, she no longer needed her leg braces. When she was eleven years old, her brothers set up a basketball hoop in the backyard. After that, she played basketball every day.

As a teenager, Wilma joined the girl’s basketball team at Burt High School. She did very well in high school basketball. She once scored forty-nine points in one game, which broke the Tennessee state record.

Wilma Rudolph went to her first Olympic Games when she was sixteen years old and still in high school. She competed in the nineteen fifty-six games in Melbourne, Australia. She won a bronze medal, or third place, in the sprint relay event.

In nineteen sixty, Wilma Rudolph went to the Olympics again, this time in Rome, Italy. She won two gold medals in the one hundred meter and the two hundred meter races. She set a new Olympic record of twenty-three point two seconds for the two hundred meter sprint relay event, setting a world record of forty-four point five seconds.

After she retired from sports, Wilma Rudolph completed her education at Tennessee State University. She got her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and became a teacher.

Wilma Rudolph died of brain cancer in nineteen ninety-four in Nashville, Tennessee. She influenced athletes, African Americans and women around the world.

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威尔玛 鲁道夫

威尔玛．鲁道夫被人们称为“黑珍珠”，“黑瞪羚”和“世界上跑得最快的女人”1960年，她成为第一个在一次奥林匹克运动会中获得三块金牌的美国女运动员。

威尔玛．鲁道夫与1940年生于田纳西州的圣伯利恒。她是一个早产儿，出生时仅2公斤。在小时候她身体不太好，曾经得过肺炎和猩红热。她还患有小儿麻痹，这使她的左腿受到损伤。当她六岁的时候，她开始带金属腿撑，因为她不

能使用那条腿。每周，威尔玛的母亲都要带她到距家80公里外的专科医生那里接受腿部治疗。

她后来说，“为我治疗的医生们都说我不能够再走路了，但是妈妈告诉我可以。我相信妈妈的话。”

不久，她家人对她的关心和照料有了效果。她九岁的时候已不再需要用腿撑了。她11岁的时候，她的兄弟们在家里的后院搭起了一个篮球框。从那以后，我每天都玩篮球。

十几岁的时候，威尔玛参加了伯特高中的女子篮球队，并且很出色，她曾经在一次比赛中获得了49分的成绩，打破了田纳西州的州记录。

在1956年澳大利亚墨尔本的奥运会上，威尔玛．鲁道夫第一次参加了奥运会，并获得了4乘100米接力的铜牌。当时她只有16岁，还在读高中。

1960年，威尔玛．鲁道夫再次参加奥运会，在意大利的罗马奥运会上，她获得了100米和200米比赛的两枚金牌。她在200米短跑中以23秒2的成绩创造了一个新的奥林匹克记录。在4乘100米接力中，她所在的美国队夺得了金牌，并以44秒5的成绩打破了世界纪录。

鲁道夫退役后，在田纳西州大学完成了学业，获得了基础教育专业的学士学位，当了一名老师。

1994年，鲁道夫因脑瘤在田纳西州的纳什维尔去世。她给运动员，非洲裔美国人甚至全世界的妇女都带来了影响。