The Blog of Awesome Women / Evelyn Ashford: The Power of Persistence

“(Wilma Rudolph) inspired me to pursue my dream of being a runner, to stick with it,” says runner Evelyn Ashford, whose incredible athletic staying power in a sport where the burnout rate is fast, is notable. She participated in Olympic games for nearly twenty years, returning to pick up a gold medal in 1992 as a thirty-five-year-old mother of one. Evelyn was always gifted at sports, but never took herself seriously until a male coach noticed her speed and issued the challenge for her to race his male track team. When she beat the “best guy” on the field, Evelyn suddenly got the attention and positive support that spurred her on.

By 1975, she had earned a full scholarship to UCLA. One year later, she was a member of the Olympic team, but had to wait for the next games four years later to make her mark. In 1980, in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, President Carter made the choice to boycott the Summer Olympic games. Along with her peers, Evelyn Ashford’s chances to win were dashed. But her persistence paid off in spades; she came back after the terrible disappointment and won a gold medal for the 100 meter sprint and another gold medal for the 400 meter relay in the 1984 Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. Renowned as the perfect model of a good sport, on and off the field, she takes enormous joy in running with fellow champions Alice Brown, Sheila Echols, and Florence Griffith-Joyner, and promoting track and field as a sport. There’s no doubt that Wilma Rudolph would be proud of Evelyn Ashford’s accomplishments.

This bio of Evelyn Ashford was taken from The Book of Awesome Women by Becca Anderson, which is available now.