Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth had to catch the train home from school every day. She was often late because she was with her friends. The train stopped at the station for a very short time. The sight of Elizabeth running at lightning speed to catch it fascinated her biology teacher, Charles Price, who also rode the same train daily. Price had once been an athlete. One day, when he measured Elizabeth's running speed on his stopwatch, he was astonished.
At his urging, Elizabeth began running regularly, and her talent became so prominent that just a few months later, she was competing with American 100-meter champion Helen Filkey in an indoor competition. This time, she finished second, but three months later, she not only defeated Filkey but also set a new world record.
Her third major competition that year was the Amsterdam Olympics, when she became the only American to qualify for the final of the 100-meter race. It's notable that women were allowed to participate in Olympic athletics for the first time that year. Elizabeth won the race, becoming the first 100-meter Olympic champion at the age of sixteen. Her record of achieving this feat at the youngest age remains unbroken.
Upon her return to America, she received a historic welcome, and Elizabeth Robinson, a petite woman with blonde bob-cut hair, became America's favorite athlete. It was 1928. She began preparing for the next Olympics, setting new records every time she ran.
In June 1931, she was flying in her cousin Will's small private plane when it crashed at an altitude of 600 meters. The plane nose-down and sank into a swamp. Rescuers found both of them unconscious. The man who picked Elizabeth up thought she was dead.
He put her in the trunk of his car and, instead of taking her to the hospital, took her to an undertaker. An undertaker is a person who handles the final preparations for a dead body. He felt some movement in Elizabeth's body and rushed her to the hospital. The bones in her leg, hip, and arm were shattered, but she survived. Will also suffered serious injuries, and his leg had to be amputated some time later.
During her discharge, Elizabeth was told by doctors that she would be able to walk only after some time. Her gait would become a limp. They also said that she would need to be reborn to run again. Her dream of winning another Olympic medal was shattered.
Gradually, Elizabeth began to walk with crutches. After a few months, she ditched the crutches and began walking, then jogging at a slow pace. Four years later, she was running properly. A knee injury made her ineligible for the 100-meter race because she couldn't bend over to take her position at the start of the race. The US Olympic Association selected her for the 4 x 100-meter relay.
In the final of this race, held in Berlin on August 8, 1936, the United States faced host Germany. By the second round, the German girls were leading. In the third round, Elizabeth overtook her German opponent to take the lead and handed the baton to Helen Stephens for the final round. The US team won gold. This second Olympic gold medal for Elizabeth, also known as Betty Robinson, is considered one of the most precious achievements in sports history.
After this, Elizabeth retired from the track and gradually began to be forgotten. Forty years later, in 1977, she was inducted into the American Hall of Fame. Although Elizabeth herself never spoke publicly, her family felt that the US government and its sports organizations did not give a champion the respect she deserved.
Nineteen more years passed.
In 1996, while she was living in Denver, the Atlanta Olympic Games torch passed through her city. A emaciated Elizabeth Robinson was requested to carry it for a short distance.
Seeing her poor condition, the Olympic Association arranged for helpers, but she refused any assistance.
Any longtime sports fan who saw the 84-year-old woman carrying the heavy Olympic torch on the streets of Denver saw in her face a glimpse of the same humble, short-haired teenager who had won Olympic gold in 1928, whom even death could not defeat.
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