BEYOND THE ORDINARY                                                               The Track Star Wilma Rudolph was an exceptional American track and field athlete who overcame debilitating childhood illnesses. Born on June 23, 1940, in Tennessee, Wilma Rudolph was a disaster from birth. She was a tiny premature baby who caught pneumonia, then scarlet fever, and finally polio. The polio left one leg badly crippled, with her foot twisted inward. Until the age of eleven, Wilma hobbled around on metal braces. Then she asked her sister to keep watch while she practiced walking without the braces. She kept this up everyday, afraid that her parents might discover what she was doing and she might be forced to stop. Eventually, feeling guilty she told her doctor, who was flabbergasted. However, he gave her permission to continue, but only for short periods of time. Wilma worked away at it until she eventually threw away her crutches for good. She progressed to running, and by the time she was sixteen she won a bronze medal in a relay race in the Melbourne Olympics. Four years later, in the Rome Olympics, she became the first woman in history to win three gold medals in track and field events. When she returned to U.S.A. she was honoured with the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete. A person who dared to dream to beat all the odds! She died of brain cancer in 1994. Even though she is no longer alive, her influence still lives on in the lives of many young people who look up to her. Whatever the mind can conceive, dream and believe, it can achieve.