 Stanisława Walasiewicz in 1938 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 3 April 1911 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 4 December 1980 (aged 69) Cleveland, Ohio, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 60 kg (132 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 100 m, 200 m, long jump Discus (A)mateur)) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Warszawianka, Warszawa Legia Warszawa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personalbest(s) | 100 yd – 10.5 (1944) 100 m – 11.6 (1937) 200 m – 23.6 (1935) long jump – 6.12 m (1939)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Stanisława Walasiewicz (3 April 1911 – 4 December 1980), also known asStefania Walasiewicz,[2] andStella Walsh,[3] was a Polish-Americantrack and field athlete, who became a women'sOlympic champion in the100 metres. Born in Poland and raised in the United States, she became an American citizen in 1947.
Walasiewicz was born on 3 April 1911 inWierzchownia (nowBrodnica County), co-calledCongress Poland.[4] Her family emigrated to the United States when she was three months old. Her parents, Julian and Weronika Walasiewicz (in USA Veronica), settled inCleveland, Ohio, where her father found a job as a steel mill worker.[5] Her family called herStasia, a common Polish diminutive of her Christian name, which later led to the nickname Stella, as she was known in the United States of America.[5]
Walasiewicz started her athletic career at South High School, located in the historic Slavic Village neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1927, she qualified for a place on the American Olympic team started by theCleveland Press. However, Walasiewicz was not an American citizen and could not obtain citizenship under the age of 21, so she could not compete.[5] The success ofHalina Konopacka, a Polish athlete who won gold in thediscus throw at the1928 Summer Olympics, inspired Walasiewicz to join the local branch of theSokół movement, a Polish sports and patriotic organization active among thePolish diaspora. During the Pan-Slavic meeting of the Sokół movement inPoznań, she scored her first major international victories; she won fivegold medals: in the60 metre,100 metre,200 metre and400 metre races, as well as thelong jump.[5] She was asked to stay in Poland and join the Polish national athletic team, and she continued to run in American challenges and games.
Walasiewicz continued to compete as an amateur while working as a clerk in Cleveland. In the period leading up to the1932 Summer Olympics, she won American national championships in the100-yard dash (1930), 220 yard dash (1930–31), and long jump (1930).[6] For her part in interstate athletic championships, the city of Cleveland awarded her a car.[5][7] She was offered American citizenship; however, just two days before taking heroath of citizenship, she changed her mind and instead adopted Polish citizenship, offered to her by the Polish consulate in New York City.[5][8] In 1930, she was chosen the most popular Polish athlete by readers of thePrzegląd Sportowy (Sports Review) daily.[9]
In the 1932 Summer Olympics, Walasiewicz represented Poland. In the 100 m dash, Walasiewicz equaled thenworld record of 11.9 seconds and won the gold medal.[10] On the same day, she finished 6th out of 9 in thediscus throw event.[11] Upon her return to Poland, she almost instantly became a well-known personality. She was welcomed by crowds in the port ofGdynia, and a few days later, she was awarded the GoldenCross of Merit for her achievements. She was again chosen the most popular Polish person in sports, and held that title for three years.[9]
In Spring 1933, Walasiewicz appeared at the Championships of Warsaw, where she won nine gold medals in track and field, including80 metres hurdling,4 × 200 relay, and long jump.[12] On 17 September 1933, in Poznań, she beat two world records in one day: 7.4 seconds for the 60 m and 11.8 seconds for the 100 m. Her Olympic success also won her a scholarship at the Warsaw Institute of Physical Education, where she met some of the most notable Polish athletes of the time, includingJadwiga Wajs,Felicja Schabińska,Maria Kwaśniewska, andJanusz Kusociński.
In the1936 Olympics in Berlin, Walasiewicz attempted to defend her Olympic title for the 100 m dash, butHelen Stephens of the U.S. beat her by 0.02 seconds; Walasiewicz won the silver medal.[13] Stephens was accused by a Polish newspaper reporter of being male and was given a genital inspection[14] which confirmed her gender as female,[15] ironic in view of Walasiewicz's ambiguous gender status.
After the Olympic Games, Walasiewicz moved to the U.S. and resumed her amateur career.[5] During and after World War II, she won American national championships in the 100 metres (1943, 1944 and 1948), the 200 metres (1939–40 and 1942–1948), thediscus throw (1941–1942), and the long jump (1938–1946, 1948 and 1951).[6][7]
In 1947, she accepted American citizenship, and she later married aviation draftsman Harry Olson in 1956.[16] Although the marriage did not last long, she continued to use the name Stella Walsh Olson for the rest of her life. She won her last U.S. title in 1951 at the age of 40.[7] She was inducted into theU.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975.
After her retirement, she continued to be active in a variety ofPolish sport associations in the U.S., where she organized championships and helped young athletes. She also funded a variety of awards for Polish sports people living in America. In 1974, Stella Walsh was inducted into theNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. Stella Walsh was a contestant on the 16 June 1954 episode of the radio quiz programYou Bet Your Life, hosted byGroucho Marx.[17]
Walsh was killed during an armed robbery in a parking lot in Cleveland, on December 4, 1980.[18][19] She was buying ribbons for a welcoming ceremony for visiting Polish basketball players when the assault occurred.[20]
An autopsy after Walsh's death showed that she wasintersex, although her precise condition was not made clear. According to reports, she had a male reproductive system including a non-functioningunderdeveloped penis, an abnormal urethra, small testes, and a small prostate. She lacked female sex organs, such as a vagina, uterus, or ovaries.[21][22][23][24] Walsh also reportedly hadgenetic mosaicism. Most of her cells containedXY chromosomes, but some contained a singleX0 chromosome.[22][25]Cuyahoga County coroner Samuel Gerber said that Walasiewicz was "socially, culturally and legally" a woman, but that her sex would have been ambiguous at birth.[22][23]
The neighborhood she grew up in was to an extent aware of her condition and saw no reason to bring it to outsiders attention. A childhood friend recalled her once saying aloud she wondered why God had done this to her.
In Cleveland, on Broadway Avenue, there is a city-owned recreational center named after Stella Walsh. It is attached toCleveland South High School. She is buried inCalvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.[26]
Walasiewicz was discussed onBBC Radio 4'sThe Long View in April 2019 when the contentious issue was the "Gender in women's sport".[27] Stella was also the subject of the documentaryStella Walsh directed by Rob Lucas ofAmerican Stories fame. The documentary focused on her gender ambiguity and untimely death.[28]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)What the autopsy showed to the examiner's eyes was that Walsh had only a "hypoplastic" or tiny, incomplete -- if still obvious -- penis with no normal opening, and equally small testes. She had no female organs, external or internal, according to the report. She had "masculine" breasts, it said, and an abnormal urinary opening near the scrotum.
Coroner Samuel Gerber made it clear the runner, an Olympic gold medal winner in 1932 and a competitor into the 1950s, had only male sex organs, though small, nonfunctional ones.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that Walsh possessed ambiguous genitalia and abnormal sex chromosomes, although the exact DSD was not established.
European Athletics Championships champions in women's100 metres | |
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European Athletics Championships champions in women's200 metres | |
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