Walasiewicz, Stanisława

Stanisława Walasiewicz, original name Stefania Walasiewicz, also called Stella Walsh, (born April 3, 1911, Rypin, Poland—died December 4, 1980, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.), Polish-American athlete who, during an unusually long career (over 20 years), won two Olympic medals and some 40 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and was credited with nearly a dozen world records in women’s running and jumping events. While on a shopping trip in 1980, she was shot to death when she was caught in the crossfire of an attempted robbery; an autopsy subsequently revealed that she possessed ambiguous sex organs. This finding confirmed the suspicions of some of Walasiewicz’s opponents and cast doubt on the legitimacy of her medals and records.

Walasiewicz moved to the United States at the age of two and lived in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1930 she became the first woman to run the 100-yard dash in less than 11 seconds. Competing for Poland at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, she tied a world record while winning the 100-metre dash and finished sixth in the discus throw. At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, again racing in the 100-metre dash for Poland, she finished second to her American rival Helen Stephens.

In the 100-yard dash Walasiewicz equaled her 1930 world record of 10.8 seconds several times, 8 times officially and 12 times unofficially. She set an indoor world record of 7.2 seconds in the 60-yard dash in 1934 and set a world long-jump record of 6.04 m (19 feet 9.75 inches) in 1938. Her 23.6-second 200-metre dash in 1935 was the longest-lasting world record in women’s track races, for it was not broken until the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Walasiewicz obtained U.S. citizenship in 1947 and continued to compete in track-and-field meets, winning her final AAU title in 1951, in the long jump.