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 Walsh’s autopsy revealed she had ambiguous genitalia, which prompted many to demand that her awards be rescinded.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.
Industry Reviews
Polish-born Stanislawa Walasiewiczówna was only three-months old when she immigrated with her parents to the U.S., where her American schoolteachers eventually changed her name to Stella Walsh. A track star, Walsh set more than 50 world records over her lengthy career, which included winning a gold medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1932 Olympics and a silver in the same event at the ’36 games. She was murdered in 1980, shot by thugs who were trying to hold her up. An autopsy revealed that she had an extremely rare medical condition, gonadal mosaicism; she had male (nonfunctional) genitalia and no female reproductive organs. Those are the bare bones of her life, but Anderson’s respectful and wide ranging biography isn’t interested in just the bare bones. Not only does the author tell the story of Walsh’s life, he talks about the larger stories of women in sports in the early years of the twentieth century, the perception of Polish people in America following the assassination of President McKinley—the assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was American of Polish descent—and WWI, the Olympic organizers’ restrictions on women competitors, and the difficulties that female athletes encountered in finding funding. A detailed biography of the life and times of a once-famous woman who is almost entirely forgotten now.
