How one big step for Wilma Rudolph turned into Olympic gold. May 20, 2010— -- Half a century ago, gold medal-winning runner Wilma Rudolph was so fast that she ran right into the pages of history.

For Olympic runner Wilma Rudolph, the proverbial starting line was way behind most Americans. She was born premature and sickly to a poor black family in the Jim Crow South in 1940. As the 20th of 22 ...

Wilma Rudolph was told by one doctor that she'd never walk again. Polio, double pneumonia and scarlet fever were to blame. So, Wilma Rudolph became the "fastest woman in the world." “My mother told me ...

Before she gained fame as the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field in one Olympic Games, Wilma Rudolph was known as “Skeeter” — the baby on the Tennessee State track team ...

How does a child diagnosed with infantile paralysis, losing use of her leg and forced to depend on leg braces for several years, become a world record-setting Olympian sprinter? “My doctor told me I ...

After overcoming polio and scarlet fever in childhood, she became an unbeaten sprinter despite her doctor’s prediction that she would never walk again. As one of 22 children, she was constantly ...

Sixty-one years have passed since Wilma Rudolph captured the attention of the nation during the summer Olympics in Rome. And the iconic Clarksville native's connection to Tennessee State remains ...