Stanisława Walasiewicz (3 April 1911 – 4 December 1980), also known as Stefania Walasiewicz, and Stella Walsh, was a Polish-American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, who became a women's Olympic champion in the 100 metres. Born in Poland and raised in the United States, she became an American citizen in 1947.

Background

Walasiewicz was born on 3 April 1911 in Wierzchownia (now Brodnica County), Congress Poland.Some sources also cite 7 and 11 April Her family emigrated to the United States when she was three months old. Her parents, Julian and Veronika Walasiewicz, settled in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio, where her father found a job as a steel mill worker. Her family called her ''Stasia'', a common Polish diminutive of her Christian name, which later led to the nickname Stella, as she was known in the United States.

Athletic career

Walasiewicz started her athletic career at South High School, a 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 the '' Cleveland Press''. However, Walasiewicz was not an American citizen and could not obtain citizenship under the age of 21, so she could not compete. The success of Halina Konopacka, a Polish athlete who won gold in the discus throw at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

, inspired Walasiewicz to join the local branch of the Sokół movement, a Polish sports and patriotic organization active among the Polish diaspora. During the Pan-Slavic meeting of the Sokół movement in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, she scored her first major international victories; she won five

gold medals A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the 60 metre, 100 metre, 200 metre and 400 metre races, as well as the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. 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 the 1932 Summer Olympics, she won American national championships in the 100-yard dash (1930), 220 yard dash (1930–31), and long jump (1930).USA Track & Field – USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions
. Usatf.org. Retrieved on 13 July 2015. For her part in interstate athletic championships, the city of Cleveland awarded her a car. She was offered American citizenship; however, just two days before taking her oath of citizenship, she changed her mind and instead adopted Polish citizenship, offered to her by the Polish consulate in New York City.At the time of Walasiewicz's birth, Poland was under partition, and she was officially a citizen of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

despite the state's not existing as a result of the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. In 1930, she was chosen the most popular Polish athlete by readers of the (''Sports Review'') daily. In the 1932 Summer Olympics, Walasiewicz represented Poland. In the 100 m dash, Walasiewicz equaled the current world record of 11.9 seconds and won the gold medal. On the same day, she finished 6th out of 9 in the discus throw event. Upon her return to Poland, she almost instantly became a well-known personality. She was welcomed by crowds in the port of

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

, and a few days later, she was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit for her achievements. She was again chosen the most popular Polish person in sports, and held that title for three years. In Spring 1933, Walasiewicz appeared at the Championships of Warsaw, where she seized nine gold medals in track and field, including 80 metres hurdling, 4 × 200 relay, and long jump. 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, including Jadwiga Wajs, Felicja Schabińska, Maria Kwaśniewska, and Janusz Kusociński. In the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Walasiewicz attempted to defend her Olympic title for the 100 m dash, but Helen Stephens of the U.S. beat her by 0.02 seconds; Walasiewicz won the silver medal. Stephens was accused by a Polish newspaper reporter of being male and was forced to submit to a genital inspection, which confirmed her gender as female. After the Olympic Games, Walasiewicz moved to the U.S. and resumed her amateur career. 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), the discus throw (1941–1942), and the long jump (1938–1946, 1948 and 1951). In 1947, she accepted American citizenship, and she later married aviation draftsman Harry Olson in 1956. 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. She was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975.

Post-athletic career

After her retirement, she continued to be active in a variety of Polish 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 the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. Stella Walsh was a contestant on the 16 June 1954 episode of the radio quiz program ''You Bet Your Life'', hosted by Groucho Marx.

Death

Walsh was killed during an armed robbery in a parking lot in Cleveland, on December 4, 1980. She was buying ribbons for a welcoming ceremony for visiting Polish basketball players when the assault occurred.

Intersex status

An autopsy after Walsh's death showed that she was intersex, although her precise condition was not made clear. According to reports, she had a male reproductive system including a non-functioning underdeveloped penis, an abnormal urethra, small testes, and a small prostate. She lacked female sex organs, such as a vagina, uterus, or ovaries. Walsh also reportedly had genetic mosaicism. Most of her cells contained XY chromosomes, but some contained a single X0 chromosome. 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. 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.

Legacy

In Cleveland, on Broadway Avenue, there is a city-owned recreational center named after Stella Walsh. It is attached to Cleveland South High School. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. Walasiewicz was discussed on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''The Long View'' in April 2019 when the contentious issue was the "Gender in women's sport". Stella was also the subject of the documentary ''Stella Walsh'' directed by Rob Lucas of ''American Stories'' fame. The documentary focused on her gender ambiguity and untimely death.

References

External links

* * * *
Stella Walsh: A Documentary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walasiewicz, Stanislawa 1911 births 1980 deaths 1980 murders in the United States Intersex sportspeople American intersex women American intersex people American female sprinters Polish female sprinters Athletes from Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship People from Brodnica County Track and field athletes from Cleveland Olympic athletes for Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Sex verification in sports Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States Deaths by firearm in Ohio People murdered in Ohio Burials in Calvary Cemetery (Cleveland) Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Polish people murdered abroad Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Women's World Games medalists Polish LGBTQ sportspeople LGBTQ track and field athletes USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Olympic female sprinters 20th-century Polish LGBTQ people 20th-century American LGBTQ people American masters athletes 20th-century American sportswomen 20th-century Polish sportswomen