Wilma Rudolph

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight… and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” [Hebrews 12:1]

Wilma Rudolph faced adversity from the very beginning. When she was born prematurely, the 20th of 22 children, she weighed only 4.5 pounds. By the time Wilma was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and polio, which left her with a paralyzed left leg. Doctors said she’d never walk again without assistance. By the time she was 12 years old she had also survived scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox, and measles.

But Wilma’s simple faith in God and determination would not allow her to give up. At age nine she stunned her doctors when she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years, every race she entered she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running.

Then one day she actually won a race. And then another… and she won every race she entered from then on. In the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals during a single Olympic Game – all in track and field. The international coverage of the Olympics made her a hero around the world. She became known as “The Tornado.” The Italians called her “The Black Gazelle,” and the French nicknamed her “The Black Pearl.” Eventually this little girl, who was told she would never walk again, went on to be known as the fastest woman on Earth. She never gave up!

The Bible says, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Rudolph was especially motivated to pay tribute to Jesse Owens, a star in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany. As Christians, we should be motivated by “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2). Christ is the One who ran before us and gives us strength to stay the course unto the end.