Babe Didrikson Zaharias: Wanting More

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the most accomplished female athletes of the 20th century and the star of the 1932 Olympic Games. Born Mildred Didriksen in Port Arthur, Texas, she excelled at every sport she played, from basketball and baseball to swimming and skating.

In July 1932, at age 18, Didrikson arrived at the Amateur Athletic Union championships in Evanston, Illinois, as the sole member of the Employers Casualty Company of Dallas (Texas) team. There she participated in 8 of the 10 sporting events, winning 5—all in one afternoon. She not only won the shot put, long jump, and baseball throw but also broke world records in the 80-metre hurdles and the javelin and tied Jean Shiley with a world record in the high jump. Perhaps most remarkable, she also won the team trophy.

A few weeks later Didrikson was on her way to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles with her mind set on winning as many medals as possible. On the train to California, she delighted journalists and annoyed teammates with countless tales of her athletic achievements. Although she would have probably chosen to compete in five or more events, Olympic rules forced her to choose only three.

Didrikson began by winning the javelin event with a world record throw of 143 feet 4 inches (43.68 metres). She then set another world record while winning the 80-metre hurdles in 11.7 seconds. The high jump, her last event, found her in a tie with teammate Shiley. Both women had cleared 5 feet 51/4 inches (1.657 metres), a world record, and had failed at 5 feet 6 inches. Judges called for a jump off at 5 feet 53/4 inches. When both women cleared the height, the judges scrambled for a way to fairly declare a winner. Their solution hardly seemed fair. While both women were credited with the world record, Shiley was awarded the gold medal and Didrikson the silver on the basis that Didrikson’s western-roll style of jumping (diving over the bar) was illegal.

After the Games, Didrikson took up golf and became the dominant women’s golfer of her era. In 1938 she married wrestler George Zaharias, and in 1950 the Associated Press named her the greatest female athlete of the half-century.