Real Tales

From Braces to Gold

On a sweltering summer day of June 23, 1940, in a tobacco barn outside Clarksville, Tennessee, a fragile baby girl entered the world. Born at just 4½ pounds, she was the 20th of 22 children. Her name was Wilma Glodean Rudolph, and no one guessed that this tiny child would become the fastest woman in the world.