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Betty
Cuthbert
The successes of Betty Cuthbert in the sprints during the 1950s and 1960s made of her one of the greatest female athletes of her country,  Australia, but also worldwide.
She was born in April 1938 in Maryland, a region near Sydney. The greatest moment in her career were the Olympic Games organized in her country in 1956, when, at the age of 18 years old, she won three gold medals in the 100m, the 200m and the 4x100m relay. In the same year she became the holder of the world record in the 110m, the 220 yards, the 200m and the 4x100m relay.
The big publicity gained by her successes influenced negatively her performance for a period, and therefore she disappointed her fans in the games of the Commonwealth in 1958. However, over the next two years she was able to reestablish her reputation, seeing that she became once again the holder of many world records in the sprints. That new beginning for Cuthbert did not last long. An injury did not allow her to participate in the 1960 Olympics. Many people believe that this injury deprived the fans of the opportunity to watch a historic race of intense competition between Cuthbert and Wilma Rudolph, which could have been the event of the 1960 Olympics.
Four years later and after a period of mediocre performances, Cuthbert decided to take part in the Olympic Games of Tokyo and, what is more, in the 400m, an event that was then included for the first time in the programme of women's events. Her choice was vindicated, since she became first Olympic winner with great ease, winning her fourth gold Olympic medal. Therefore, by participating four times in Olympic finals and winning equal in number gold medals, she ranked among the best athletes of all times in the sprints. The last time that something similar happened was in the Olympic Games of 1948, when Fanny Blankers-Koen had won four gold medals in four events.
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