My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I… — Wilma Rudolph · Smartyfair

My doctor told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.

Wilma Rudolph1940–1994 · athlete · 1900s USAWilma Rudolph was an American track and field athlete who overcame childhood polio, which doctors said might keep her from ever walking normally, to become one of the fastest women in the world.1 quote

Source not found yetPerseveranceCourage1900sFriendship

In plain words

Two people told her opposite things. She chose to believe her mum.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 62% sureLots of sources credit Wilma Rudolph with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: From her 1977 autobiography Wilma: The Story of Wilma Rudolph, per biography.com's direct citation; the primary text itself wasn't accessed.
Occasion: 1977
Sources checked: biography.comChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 20 August 2026cites her 1977 autobiography Wilma by name and quotes the line directly
archive.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 21 August 2026The actual 1977 autobiography located: 'Wilma' by Wilma Rudolph, New American Library (Signet), 1977, archive.org id wilma00rudo — access-restricted, wording unconfirmed; first pass to pin the primary object itself

Nothing made from these words yet — Storyfaire is where they get made.

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