Determination Is Key, Olympian Tells Women

Four-time Olympic medalist Wilma Rudolph, who walked with leg braces as a child, told 4,000 women Tuesday in Anaheim: “Anything that anybody in this room wants to accomplish, you can. But you have to believe it.”

Rudolph, 45, a polio victim who grew up with 21 siblings in Tennessee, became a world-famous Olympic sprinter. As keynote speaker at the fourth annual Conference on Women at the Anaheim Hilton, the theme of her message was determination.

Rudolph reminded the audience that although she had won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and three gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Rome in 1960, making her the first American woman to accomplish as much, she had used braces to walk until age 13.

But, she said, her determination and the support of her parents and family enabled her to ignore the predictions of her doctors and become an Olympian by age 15.

“All of our worlds are different,” she said. “But it takes the same discipline to be the best lawyer, doctor and secretary.”

About 10,000 women attended the conference, which was organized by state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights). The conference featured seminars on relationships, women in corporate management, physical fitness and other issues significant to women.

Jerry Haleva, Campbell’s chief aide, said the conference has grown steadily since its beginnings four years ago. So many women signed up for the luncheon on both days that Rudolph and Monday’s keynote speaker, Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth H. Dole, had to give their speeches twice.

Rudolph, a mother of four children and grandmother of two, received standing ovations from the audience in both rooms and spent an hour signing autographs.

“It’s a good feeling to know that your accomplishments mean something to people,” she said.