A little girl was born in a very poor family. Her name was Wilma Rudolph. When she was four years old, she had pneumonia(肺炎) and it left her with a paralyzed(瘫痪的) left leg. She had to wear an iron leg brace(支架). Her mother told her that she could do whatever she wanted to do.
So at the age of nine, the little girl took off the leg brace, and she tried her best to walk. In four years, she could walk for some steps, which was a medical wonder. Then this girl had a dream that she would like to be the world's greatest woman runner.
At the age of 13, she entered every race in high school, and in every race she came in last. Everyone asked her to stop! And then there came a day when she won a race. From then on, she won every race that she entered.
She went to university, where she met a coach. The coach trained her so well that she went to the Olympic Games. She went to her first Olympic Games when she was sixteen years old. There she was racing against the greatest woman runner of the day, a German girl named Jutta Heine. Nobody had ever beaten Jutta. But in the 100-meter race, she won. She beat Jutta again in the 200-meter race. She had two Olympic gold medals.
Finally came the 400-meter relay(接力赛). It would be Wilma against Jutta once again. When the third runner handed the baton(接力棒) to Wilma, she was so excited that she dropped it. It was impossible that anybody could catch Jutta. But Wilma did just that! Wilma had earned three Olympic gold medals.
They called her “the Black Pearl”. Wilma Rudolph received a lot of attention from the public, but she did not forget her teammates. She said that her favorite event was the relay, because she could share the victory with her teammates.
