June 23

Wilma Rudolph

On June 23, 1940,  Gold Medal champion Wilma Rudolph was born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee.  Rudolph broke American female Olympic records by becoming the first female Olympic athlete to win three gold medals in track and field in a single Olympics.  She accomplished this feat at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy.

Rudolph's athletic skills were truly remarkable, because of the effects of polio at age four, Rudolph had a twisted leg, resulting in her having to wear a brace until age nine.  Who would have thought the young lady wearing the brace would later in life be proclaimed the (fastest women in history).  She died in Brentwood, Tennessee of cancer on November 12, 1994 at age 54.