Betty Robinson: She Won Olympic Gold At 16, Survived A Plane Crash, Then Ran Again

In the spring of 1928, 16‑year‑old Betty Robinson was sprinting to catch a Chicago commuter train, just another schoolgirl rushing home, when her science teacher, and former athlete Charles Price, spotted her speed. The next day, he timed her sprint through a school hallway and encouraged her to train, joining the boys’ track team since no girls’ squad existed.

Her first official race came on March 30, 1928, at an indoor 60-yard meet, where she placed second. Just weeks later, on June 2, she equaled the 100 m world record in her second race. Just four months after starting track, Betty was on the U.S. Olympic team, headed for Amsterdam, where women's athletics made their debut that summer.

In the 1928 Olympics, in her fourth competitive 100 m, she won the inaugural women’s Olympic 100 m dash in 12.2 seconds, equaling the world record and becoming the first woman ever to win Olympic sprint gold. Days later, she added a silver in the 4×100 m relay.

After a near‑fatal plane crash in June 1931, Robinson was told she would never run again. Yet she recovered and, in 1936, helped the US women's relay team clinch gold in Berlin, earning her second Olympic gold medal.

Robinson’s rapid rise, historic 1928 victories, and miraculous comeback secured her place as a trailblazer in women’s athletics.

In 1931, just three years after her Olympic triumph, Robinson was flying in a small biplane that crashed near Chicago. The injuries were devastating: her leg was shattered, her pelvis broken, her body so badly damaged that paramedics believed she was dead and took her to a morgue. She wasn’t. She spent weeks in a coma, and when she woke up, the doctors told her she might never walk again.

Betty Robinson didn’t give interviews about it. She didn’t talk about the pain, or the fear, or the loss. But she worked. Quietly, patiently, and persistently, she learned how to walk again. Then, how to jog. Then, incredibly, how to run. She could no longer crouch at the starting blocks — her injuries had permanently changed her movement — but she never gave up on returning to the sport.

Five years later, in 1936, Robinson qualified for the US Olympic team once more, not for an individual sprint, but as part of the 4x100m relay. The games were held in Berlin under Hitler’s watchful eye, in a stadium built to showcase racial supremacy. But that day, in front of a roaring German crowd, their relay team dropped the baton. Robinson, running the third leg for the US, helped her team seize the moment and take gold.

Eight years after her first Olympic title, and after an accident that nearly ended her life, she was a champion again.

After that, Robinson retired from competitive running. She married, raised children, and led a quiet life far from the spotlight. She didn’t need it. The medals were real, but the moment that defined her came not on the podium, but in her return to it.

Her Legacy in Print

In 1977, she was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame. In 1996, at 84, she carried the Olympic torch through Atlanta. She passed away in 1999, at the age of 87, having outrun almost every limit life had placed before her.

Betty Robinson’s story isn’t just about speed. It’s about survival. About grace without glory. About what happens when no one expects you to come back and you do anyway.

She didn’t have endorsements or agents or media coverage. What she had was something more rare: the humility to rise, the strength to rebuild, and the courage to return, not once, but twice. Long before women’s sport was recognised as equal, she ran as if it were. And in doing so, she made it a little more possible for every girl who came after her. Her influence extends beyond her medals. She helped open doors for women who came after her and redefined what was possible when talent met opportunity, especially for those writing history in skirts and spikes.

Betty Robinson didn’t just win the first Olympic gold medal. She proved that history belongs to those who refuse to be counted out.

Personal views expressed by the author are their own.