The Girl Who Couldn't Walk Won 3 Olympic Golds

Doctors Said She Would Never Walk Doctors said this girl would never walk normally again. Then she became the fastest woman in the world. This really happened. Her name was Wilma Rudolph, born in Tennessee in 1940. As a little girl, she got polio. Her left leg became weak and twisted, and she had to wear a metal brace. Every week, her mother took her on a long bus ride to the hospital for treatment. At home, her family massaged her leg every single day. For years. One Sunday at church, when she was about twelve, she took off the brace. And walked. Then she started to run. And she never stopped. In 1960, at the Olympic Games in Rome, she ran in three races. She won all three. Three gold medals. The girl who couldn't walk was now the fastest woman on Earth. That's Wilma. Doctors said she would never walk normally again. Then she became the fastest woman in the world.