From Leg Brace to Gold Medal

On September 2, 1960, in Rome's Stadio Olimpico, a young woman from Clarksville, Tennessee crouched in the starting blocks of the 100-meter final. Wilma Rudolph — once a child so weakened by polio that doctors doubted she would ever walk without a brace — exploded down the track and crossed the finish line in 11.0 seconds. The Italian crowd erupted, calling her "La Gazzella Nera" — the Black Gazelle.

But the road to Rome had been impossibly long. Born premature at just four and a half pounds, the twentieth of twenty-two children, Wilma contracted polio at age four. Her left leg twisted inward, and she wore a metal brace until she was nine years old. Her mother, Blanche Rudolph, drove her ninety miles round-trip to Nashville for weekly treatments at Meharry Medical College. By twelve, Wilma could finally walk unaided.

Eight years later, she stood on the Olympic podium not once but three times — gold in the 100 meters, gold in the 200 meters, and gold in the 4x100-meter relay. She became the first American woman to win three golds in a single Olympics.

Isaiah 40:31 promises that those who wait upon the Lord "shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary." Wilma Rudolph's journey from leg brace to Olympic gold reminds us that God does not waste our seasons of weakness. The same legs that once could not carry a little girl to school carried her to glory. Whatever brace you are wearing today — whatever limitation binds you — the God who renews strength has not forgotten you.