The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh
The Greatest Female Athlete of Her Time
By (author) Sheldon Anderson
Publication date:
08 September 2017Length of book:
244 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442277557
Stella Walsh, who was born in Poland but raised in the United States, competed for Poland at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, winning gold and silver in the 100 meters. Running and jumping competitively for three decades, Walsh also won more than 40 U.S. national championships and set dozens of world records. In 1975, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, yet Stella Walsh’s impressive accomplishments have been almost entirely ignored.
In The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh: The Greatest Female Athlete of Her Time, Sheldon Anderson tells the story of her remarkable life. A pioneer in women’s sports, Walsh was one of the first globetrotting athletes, running in meets all over North America, Europe, and Asia. While her accomplishments are undeniable, Walsh’s legacy was called into question after her murder in 1980. Walsh’s autopsy revealed she had ambiguous genitalia, which prompted many to demand that her awards be rescinded.
In addition to telling her fascinating story, The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh provides a close look at the early days of women’s track and field. This book also examines the complicated and controversial question of sex and gender identity in athletics—an issue very much in the news today. Featuring numerous photographs that help bring to life Walsh’s story and the times in which she lived, this biography will interest and inform historians of sport and women’s studies, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about a Polish immigrant who was once the fastest woman alive.
In The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh: The Greatest Female Athlete of Her Time, Sheldon Anderson tells the story of her remarkable life. A pioneer in women’s sports, Walsh was one of the first globetrotting athletes, running in meets all over North America, Europe, and Asia. While her accomplishments are undeniable, Walsh’s legacy was called into question after her murder in 1980. Walsh’s autopsy revealed she had ambiguous genitalia, which prompted many to demand that her awards be rescinded.
In addition to telling her fascinating story, The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh provides a close look at the early days of women’s track and field. This book also examines the complicated and controversial question of sex and gender identity in athletics—an issue very much in the news today. Featuring numerous photographs that help bring to life Walsh’s story and the times in which she lived, this biography will interest and inform historians of sport and women’s studies, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about a Polish immigrant who was once the fastest woman alive.
In this lively biography, Anderson, a history professor at Miami University, narrates the life of Stella Walsh, a trailblazer in women’s track and field. Walsh was born in Poland in 1911 as Stanislawa Walasiewicz, and when she was an infant her family emigrated to the U.S. and settled in the Slavic community of Cleveland, Ohio. Walsh was a natural athlete who excelled in sprinting in high school and was invited by a local sports club to compete in regional track meets. Walsh became one of the fastest sprinters in the world and competed in the 1928 Olympics for the Polish national team because she’d never received her U.S. citizenship. In the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, she won gold in the 100 meter race for Poland. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Walsh lost to American runner Helen Stephens and was forced to submit to genital inspection to confirm she was a woman. Walsh remained hugely popular and became a regular on the North American circuit during the war, setting more world records. Upon her death in 1980, an autopsy was performed, revealing that she was intersex. This led to a dispute over her achievements. Anderson is sympathetic toward Walsh, persuasively writing that ‘whatever anguish she might have felt, she always thought of herself as a woman.’ With humanity, detail, and grace, eschewing judgment and awkward posturing, Anderson revives the life of a neglected world-class athlete.