After the scarlet fever and the whooping cough, I remember I started to get mad about it all… I went through the stage of asking myself, ‘Wilma, what is this existence all about? Is it about being sick all the time? It can’t be.’ So I started getting angry about things, fighting back in a new way with a vengeance. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
In college, I was an education major and qualified for several jobs. But the fame that came with the Olympic medals was too threatening to many people. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
There were good jobs, but they were never what I wanted to do. Somehow, people always thought of Wilma Rudolph as a threat. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
Down South, there was the old ‘ladies-don’t-do-such-things’ way of thinking. You couldn’t be a lady and a good athlete at the same time. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
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 Read Quote
You become world famous, and you sit with kings and queens, and then your first job is just a job. You can’t go back to living the way you did before because you’ve been taken out of one setting and shown the other. That becomes a struggle and makes you struggle. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
They would say, ‘If you run around too much as a girl, you’ll never be able to have children.’ The running was supposed to be too much strain for your body, and your body would never be the same again. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
Later on in life, I discovered that in order for me to be successful, I had to have a challenge. I can’t do a nine to five job. Wilma Rudolph Read Quote
