Editing Betty Robinson (section)

==Athletics==
Robinson ran her first official race on March 30, 1928, at the age of 16, at an indoor meet where she finished second to Helen Filkey, the US record holder at 100 m, in the 60-yard dash.<ref>{{cite book | first= Eric L. | last= Cowe | year= 2005| title = Early Women's Athletics: Statistics and History, Volume Two| isbn= 9780953703005| page=69| publisher= Eric L. Cowe }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web| last= Carroll |first=John|date=2019-03-07| title=Betty Robinson: the fastest woman in the world who came back from the dead|url=https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/motivation/a26747820/who-is-betty-robinson/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210709055404/https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/motivation/a26747820/who-is-betty-robinson/|archive-date=2021-07-09|access-date=2022-02-15| website=Runner's World|language=en-GB}}</ref> At her next race on June 2, outdoors at 100 meters, she beat Filkey and equalled the [[List of world records in athletics|world record]], though her time was not recognized because it was deemed wind-aided.{{sfn|Gergen|2014|p=12}}<ref name=":1" />

At the [[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Amsterdam Olympics]], her third 100 m competition, Robinson was the only US athlete to qualify for the 100 m final.<ref name=":0" /> She reached the final and won, equaling the world record of 12.2 seconds. She was the inaugural Olympic champion in the event, since athletics for women had not been on the program before, and its inclusion was in fact still heavily disputed among officials.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web| title=Elizabeth Robinson |url= https://olympics.com/en/athletes/elizabeth-robinson|access-date=2022-02-15|website=Olympics.com}}</ref> She remains the youngest athlete to win Olympic 100 m gold.<ref name=":0" /> With the American [[4 x 100 metres relay]] team, Robinson added a [[silver medal]] to her record.<ref name=":2" />

Six decades later, Robinson was interviewed for a book, ''Tales of Glory: An Oral History of the Summer Olympic Games Told By America's Gold Medal Winners'', by Lewis H. Carlson and John J Fogarty. This is how she remembered the 100 m race:{{blockquote|I can remember breaking the tape, but I wasn't sure that I'd won. It was so close. But my friends in the stands jumped over the railing and came down and put their arms around me, and then I knew I'd won. Then, when they raised the flag, I cried.}}
''Chicago Tribune'' reporter William L Shirer wrote that 'an unheralded, pretty, blue-eyed blond young woman from Chicago became the darling of the spectators when she flew down the cinder path, her golden locks flying, to win'.<ref name=":1" />

She joined [[Northwestern University]] where she decided to pursue a physical education degree, hoping to become a coach at the 1936 Olympics.<ref name=":0" /> Robinson joined the rifle team at Northwestern in addition to running track there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remembering the First Lady of Track: Northwestern Magazine - Northwestern University |url=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/spring2014/campuslife/remembering-the-first-lady-of-track |access-date=2024-05-18 |website=www.northwestern.edu}}</ref> She was also a member of [[Kappa Kappa Gamma]].<ref>{{Cite book| last=Fowler|first=Ellen Margaret| url= https://kappa.historyit.com/list-view.php?id=297142|title=The Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma|publisher=[[Kappa Kappa Gamma]]| year= 1964| pages=70|chapter=Alumnae News, Mid-Winter 1964}}</ref>

On 28 June 1931, Robinson was involved in a plane crash and was severely injured. Initial reports had her being discovered unconscious in the wreckage and wrongly thought dead by her rescuer; in fact, he merely thought she was beyond saving. He took her to Oak Forest infirmary, locally known as the "Poor Farm", because he knew the undertaker.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.teamusa.org/News/2015/April/28/Betty-Robinson-The-Gold-Medalist-Who-Came-Back-From-the-Dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430235519/http://www.teamusa.org/News/2015/April/28/Betty-Robinson-The-Gold-Medalist-Who-Came-Back-From-the-Dead |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 30, 2015 |title=Betty Robinson: The Olympic Gold Medalist Who 'Came Back From The Dead' |first=Karen | last= Rosen |date=April 28, 2015 |website= TeamUSA.org |access-date= September 17, 2020}}</ref> Doctors determined she had suffered severe multiple injuries<ref>{{cite book | first= Roseanne | last= Montillo | year=2017| title= Fire on the Track: Betty Robinson and the Triumph of the Early Olympic Women |publisher = Crown | isbn= 9781101906156 |pages= 3–5, 125–30}}</ref> and she would never race again.<ref name=":0" /> It was another six months before she could get out of a wheelchair, and two years before she could walk normally again.{{sfn|Gergen|2014}} Meanwhile, she missed the [[1932 Summer Olympics]] in her home country.

Still unable to kneel for a normal 100 m start due to the fractures and surgeries on her left leg,<ref name=":0" /> Robinson was a part of the US team of [[Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay|4 × 100 metres relay at the]] [[1936 Summer Olympics]]. The US team was running behind the heavily favored Germans, but the Germans dropped their baton. Robinson took the lead and handed off the baton to Helen Stephens, resulting in her second Olympic gold medal.{{sfn|Gergen|2014|pp=146-7}}<ref name="sr">{{cite Sports-Reference |url= https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/betty-robinson-1.html |title=Betty Robinson |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173344/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/betty-robinson-1.html |archive-date=2020-04-17}}</ref>