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I had a series of childhood illnesses... scarlet fever.... pneumonia.... Polio. I walked with braces until I was at least nine years old. My life wasn't like the average person who grew up and decided to enter the world of sports.

Wilma Rudolph

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Wilma Rudolph
Age: 54 †
Born: 1940
Born: June 23
Died: 1994
Died: November 12
Athlete
Sprinter
Clarksville
Tennessee
Wilma Glodean Rudolph
Persons
Average
Polio
Person
Series
Illnesses
Years
Childhood
Scarlet
Life
Decided
Fever
Like
Grew
Walked
World
Wasn
Enter
Least
Illness
Pneumonia
Sports
Nine
Braces

More quotes by Wilma Rudolph

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I don't know why I run so fast. I just run.
Wilma Rudolph
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I believe in me more than anything in this world.
Wilma Rudolph
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By the time I was 12 I was challenging every boy in our neighborhood at running, jumping, everything.
Wilma Rudolph
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I would be disappointed if I were remembered as a runner because I feelthat my contribution to the youth of America has far exceeded the woman who was the Olympic champion.
Wilma Rudolph
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The feeling of accomplishment welled up inside of me, three Olympic gold medals. I knew that was something nobody could ever take away from me, ever.
Wilma Rudolph
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The triumph can't be had without the struggle.
Wilma Rudolph
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Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.
Wilma Rudolph
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When I was going through my transition of being famous, I tried to ask God, why was I here? What was my purpose? Surely, it wasn't just to win three gold medals. There has to be more to this life than that.
Wilma Rudolph
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My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.
Wilma Rudolph
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I loved the feeling of freedom in running, the fresh air, the feeling that the only person I'm competing with is me.
Wilma Rudolph
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But when you come from a large, wonderful family, there's always a way to achieve your goals.
Wilma Rudolph
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It doesn't matter what you're trying to accomplish. It's all a matter of discipline. I was determined to discover what life held for me beyond the inner-city streets.
Wilma Rudolph
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I tell them that the most important aspect is to be yourself and have confidence in yourself.
Wilma Rudolph
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Black women . . . work because their husbands can't make enough money at their jobs to keep everything going. . . . They don't go to work to find fulfillment, or adventure, or glamour and romance, like so many white women think they are doing. Black women work out of necessity.
Wilma Rudolph
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I know black women in Tennessee who have worked all their lives, from the time they were twelve years old to the day they died. These women don't listen to the women's liberation rhetoric because they know that it's nothing but a bunch of white women who had certain life-styles and who want to change those life-styles.
Wilma Rudolph
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I don't consciously try to be a role model, so I don't know if I am or not. That's for other people to decide.
Wilma Rudolph
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Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose.
Wilma Rudolph
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The triumph can't be had without the struggle. And I know what struggle is. I have spent a lifetime trying to share what it has meant to be a woman first in the world of sports so that other young women have a chance to reach their dreams.
Wilma Rudolph
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What do you do after you are world-famous and nineteen or twenty and you have sat with prime ministers, kings and queens, the Pope? Do you go back home and take a job? What do you do to keep your sanity? You come back to the real world.
Wilma Rudolph
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Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.
Wilma Rudolph