The legendary USA women’s sprinter Wilma Rudolph provides color commentary along side ABC’s Al Michaels….for this the 1st heat in the women’s 100 meter dash at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) was an American track and field sprinter…who competed in the 100 and 200 meters dash. Rudolph was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960’s and competed in two Olympic Games…in Melbourne in 1956 and in Rome in 1960.
In the 1960 Rome Olympics….Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.….and as a track and field champion….she elevated women’s track to a major presence in the United States. As a member of the black community, she is also regarded as a civil rights and women’s rights pioneer. Along with other 1960 Olympic athletes such as Cassius Clay (who later became Muhammad Ali)…..Rudolph became an international star due to the first international television coverage of the Olympics that year….as the powerful sprinter emerged from the 1960 Rome Olympics as “The Tornado, the fastest woman on earth”….as the Italians nicknamed her La Gazzella Nera (“The Black Gazelle”)….and to the French she was La Perle Noire (“The Black Pearl”).
And in this video featuring USA women’s sprinter Evelyn Ashford…..La Perle Noire gives wonderful insight as to why she thinks Ashford is on her way to the gold medal.
