WILMA - 1977
RATED - PG-13 (I would have given it a G rating)
RATINGS - 3 Amazon (4.5/5), 2,209 Netflix (3.5/5), 56 IMDB (5.4/10).
STARRING - Shirley Jo Finney, Cicely Tyson, Joe Seneca, Denzel Washington (screen debut).
THEMES - Perseverance, love, family, relationships.
STORY - This made for TV docudrama is the true story of Wilma Rudolph, one of America's greatest Olympic athletes. Wilma was born into a poor (by our standards), black family in Tennessee and rose to become the crowd favorite at the 1960 Olympics in Rome where she became the fastest woman in the world and the first American woman to win three gold medals in the same competition. Her journey included overcoming a debilitating case of polio at a young age which forced her to wear a brace and heavy shoes for several years and receive daily therapy. She also lived and competed in a world where being black in the deep South meant being segregated and second class. She also had to overcome an unwanted pregnancy which threatened to end her career early. It is an amazing story of perseverance and the love of a family and the support of her coach and community. As with Jesse Owens ahead of her and so many athletes, there is a coach behind her success, Ed Temple, the track coach at Tennessee State who saw in Wilma the raw potential of a great athlete. The movie builds to a climax with the Rome Olympics and shows all three of the actual events in which she won the gold medals. She also went on to become a role model for young women and the first real superstar female athlete and also an ambassador for amateur athletics. Enjoy the story of this amazing woman and athlete. Lu G. for Lu's Reviews. 07/22/2008.
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