Fire On the Track: Betty Robinson and the Triumph of the Early Olympic Women

When Betty Robinson assumed the starting position at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, she was participating in what was only her fourth-ever organized track meet. She crossed the finish line as a gold medalist and the fastest woman in the world. This improbable athletic phenom was an ordinary high school student, discovered running for a train in rural Illinois mere months before her Olympic debut. Amsterdam made her a star.