The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
After retiring from his career as a track runner, Edwin Moses began to campaign against steroid use. He also served on the International Olympic Committee and worked in support of the Goodwill Games and the Special Olympics.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Edwin Moses competes at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. Moses shares the honor of being a two-time Olympic champion of the 400-meter hurdles with only one other man. This distinction is especially remarkable because his two wins occurred eight years apart.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia native Edith McGuire became the top sprinter of the 1960s, winning six Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964. McGuire was also the only American woman ever to hold three AAU titles at different times, in the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump.
Image from Wikimedia
Wyomia Tyus (center) of the United States, Edith McGuire (left) of the United States, and Ewa Klobukowska (right) of Poland took first, second, and third place (respectively) in the women's 100 meter at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Photograph from Corbis
Mildred McDaniel became interested in track and field by accident. She won an Olympic gold medal and set a world record in the high jump in 1956.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Considered one of the world's fastest women, track star and Decatur native Gwen Torrence is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Courtesy of Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Martha Hudson, a native of Eastman, attended Tennessee State University in Nashville on a track scholarship. During the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, Hudson and three of her TSU teammates won the gold medal for the 400-meter relay.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Georgia native Martha Hudson is an Olympic track and field gold medal winner and an Amateur Athletic Union All-American.
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Martha Hudson, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, taught at Upson Lee North Elementary School in Thomaston for more than thirty years. She was inducted into the hall of fame at Tennessee State University, her alma mater, in 1983 and into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.
Courtesy of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Wyomia Tyus was the first person to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100-meter dash. She also won silver and gold medals consecutively on 400-meter relay teams in the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games.
Image from Wikimedia
Alice Coachman clears the high jump bar with an Olympic record-breaking leap of 5 feet 6 1/8 inches, winning her the gold medal in the high jump at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.
Photograph from Corbis
