Editing Wyomia Tyus

{{Short description|American sprinter}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
|name=
|nickname=
|image=Wyomia Tyus 1968.jpg
| image_size     =
|caption= Tyus in 1968
|birth_date= {{birth date and age|1945|8|29}}
|birth_place= [[Griffin, Georgia]], United States
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| height = {{convert|1.72|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight = {{convert|61|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
|sport=Athletics
|event=100 m, 200 m
|club= TSU Tigers, Nashville
|pb=100 yd – 10.3 (1965)<br> 100 m – 11.08 (1968)<br> 200 m – 23.08 (1968)
|alma_mater=
| show-medals    = yes
| medaltemplates = 
{{Medal|Country | the {{USA}} }}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo]]|[[Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres|100 m]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[1968 Summer Olympics|1968 Mexico City]]|[[Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres|100 m]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|1968 Mexico City|[[Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay|4 × 100 m relay]]}}
{{Medal|Silver|1964 Tokyo|[[Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay|4 × 100 m relay]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Pan American Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1967 Pan American Games|1967 Winnipeg]] | [[Athletics at the 1967 Pan American Games|200 m]]}}
}}
[[File:TV-icon-2.svg|thumb|110px|'''Official Olympic {{YouTube|gn3hMAvOYfQ}}''']]

'''Wyomia Tyus''' ([[pronunciation]]: ''why-o-mi''; born August 29, 1945) is a retired American [[track and field]] [[sprint (running)|sprinter]], and the first person to retain the [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] title in the 100 m (a feat since duplicated by [[Carl Lewis]], [[Gail Devers]], [[Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce]], [[Usain Bolt]], and [[Elaine Thompson-Herah]]).<ref name=sr>{{cite web|title=Wyomia Tyus|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ty/wyomia-tyus-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173404/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ty/wyomia-tyus-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2020|publisher=Olympics at Sports-Reference|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Raised on a dairy farm, as the youngest of four children, and the only girl in the family Tyus was encouraged by her father to participate in sports.<ref name="Ge">{{cite web|last1=Ennis|first1=Lisa A.|title=Wyomia Tyus (b. 1945)|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/sports-outdoor-recreation/wyomia-tyus-b-1945|publisher=Georgia Encyclopedia|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref> While a high school athlete Tyus participated in basketball and began her track endeavors as a high jumper before transitioning to the sprints after being invited to a summer track clinic at Tennessee State University in 1960.<ref name="WC">{{cite book|last1=Walter|first1=John C|last2=Iida|first2=Malina|title=Better than the best : black athletes speak, 1920-2000|date=2011|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=9780295990538|oclc=665136806}}</ref> It was in this same year that Tyus's father died leaving the job of male role model in Tyus's life to her soon to be track coach at Tennessee State [[Ed Temple]].<ref name="Ge" />

== College and professional career ==
Tyus, from [[Tennessee State University]], participated in the [[1964 Summer Olympics]] at age 19. In the heats of the event, she equaled [[Wilma Rudolph]]'s world record, propelling her to a favored position for the final, where her main rival was fellow American [[Edith McGuire]]. Tyus won the final, beating McGuire by 0.2 seconds. At the same Olympics, she also won a silver medal with the 4 × 100 m relay team.<ref name="sr" />

The following years, Tyus won numerous national championships in the sprint events, and a gold medal in the 200 m at the [[Pan-American Games]]. In 1968, she returned to the Olympics to defend her title in the 100 m. In the final, she set a new world record of 11.08 s to become the first person, male or female, to retain the Olympic [[100 metres]] title.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Aitcheson|first1=Connie|title=Wyomia Tyus|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1969/12/31/105711795/wyomia-tyus|access-date=31 May 2017|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=July 14, 2008}}</ref> Tyus also qualified for the 200 m final, in which she finished sixth. Running the final leg for the relay team, Tyus helped setting a new world record, winning her third gold medal.<ref name=sr/>

Director [[Bud Greenspan]] filmed Tyus casually dancing behind her starting blocks before the Olympic final. When interviewed later she said she was doing the "[[Tighten Up (Archie Bell & the Drells song)|Tighten Up]]" to stay loose.

Tyus retired from international sports after the 1968 Olympics. In 1973, she was invited to compete in the 60-yard dash in the new [[International Track Association]] competitions. In her first-year return, she won eight of eighteen events. The following year, she won every event she entered, a total of twenty-two races. Tyus continued to compete in the 60 yard dash up until 1982.<ref name="WC" />

== Post athletics ==
Tyus went on to coach at [[Beverly Hills High School]], and was a founding member of the [[Women's Sports Foundation]].

During the [[Richard Dawson]] era of ''[[Family Feud]]'', Tyus appeared with her family (1980). They won the $5,000 prize.<ref>{{Citation |title=Family Feud -- Samack vs. Tyus -- 1980 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6FOri_q0ZI |access-date=2023-09-25 |language=en}}</ref> In 1976, Tyus was inducted into the [[Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Wyomia Tyus | url=http://gshf.org/pdf_files/inductees/track_and_field/wyomia_tyus.pdf | website=[[Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]] | access-date=July 5, 2017 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719014441/http://gshf.org/pdf_files/inductees/track_and_field/wyomia_tyus.pdf | archive-date=July 19, 2011 }}</ref> In 1980, Tyus was inducted into the [[National Track and Field Hall of Fame]]. At the [[1984 Summer Olympics]], she was one of eleven athletes who carried in the [[Olympic Flag]] during the Opening Ceremony. In 1985, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wyomia Tyus|url=http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=175|publisher=U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref>

In 1999, her hometown [[Griffin, Georgia]] honored her with the unveiling of the Wyomia Tyus Olympic Park.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wyomia Tyus Olympic Park|url=http://spaldingparksandrec.com/parks_wyomia_tyus_olympic.php|publisher=Spalding Parks and Recreation|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref> The 2010 Breeder's World Cup featured a two-year-old filly racing horse bearing her namesake.<ref name=BH>{{cite web|last1=Biles|first1=Deidre B.|title=Track Star's Namesake a Breeders' Cup Runner|url=http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/139599/track-stars-namesake-a-breeders-cup-runner|publisher=Bloodhorse|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref> In 2018, she published the memoir ''Tigerbelle : the Wyomia Tyus story'', with co-author Elizabeth Terzakis; it is part of [[Dave Zirin]]'s ''Edge of Sports'' series.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tyus|first1=Wyomia|title=Tigerbelle : the Wyomia Tyus story|oclc=1048941540}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Tyus grew up in a primarily white neighborhood and became aware of her race and of [[racial segregation]] at an early age. She was forced to take an hour bus ride to school each day, in spite of the fact that there was a white school within walking distance.<ref name="WC" /> Racial divide in her neighborhood also prevented Tyus from playing with the white girls that lived nearby and as the nearest black family lived almost a mile away, Tyus spent most of her time playing sports with her brothers and the white boys in the neighborhood.<ref name="WC" /> As she grew older her father helped to solidify the idea that she could accomplish anything in her life, but not without hard work to overcome racial stigma.<ref name="WC" />

After finishing high school Tyus attended Tennessee State University (TSU), making her the first of her family to go to college.<ref name="WC" /> While at TSU Tyus participated in the Tigerbelles collegiate team.<ref name="ASN">{{cite web|url=http://americansportsnet.com/news/greatest-moments-tennessee-states-tigerbelles-set-olympic-standard|title=ASN HEROES OF BLACK HISTORY Ed Temple created TSU's legendary Tigerbelles|publisher=American Sports Net|last1=BAMBACH|first1=MIKE|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref> Tyus began training with TSU coach [[Ed Temple]], but poor grades, study habits, and a general lack of interest in classes nearly derailed Tyus's chances to continue her training and attend the 1964 Olympics.<ref name="WC" /> She has credited her training with Coach Temple as helping with her development and success in sporting, academic, and professional life, especially as he highlighted the struggle that comes with being a black athlete and having to work harder to receive positive recognition.<ref name="WC" />

In December 1968, Tyus moved with her then boyfriend from Georgia to California, where she worked as a substitute teacher.<ref name="WC" /> She married her boyfriend Art Simburg in 1969 and held multiple jobs until becoming a teacher in 1971.<ref name="WC" /> Tyus left this job within a year in order to stay at home with her first child.<ref name="WC" /> Tyus's first marriage ended in 1974 and in 1978 she married Duane Tillman, with whom she had her second child, a son.<ref name="WC" />

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Lansbury|first1=Jennifer H|title=A spectacular leap: black women athletes in twentieth-century America|date=2014|publisher=University of Arkansas Press|isbn=978-1557286581|language=en|oclc=866922879}}
*{{cite book|last1=Tyus|first1=Wyomia|first2=Elizabeth|last2=Terzakis|title=Tigerbelle - The Wyomia Tyus Story|date=2018|publisher=Edge of Sports/Akashic Books|isbn=978-1-61775-676-4|language=en|oclc=1046676510}}

==External links==
* {{sports links}}
* {{Team USA Hall of Fame|new_id=wyomia-tyus}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191157/http://www.tsu-alumni.org/olympic.htm Tigerbelles Olympic Tradition]
* {{YouTube|2Ocoe3f09N4|Olympic Anthem Los Angeles 1984 Opening Ceremony}}
* {{YouTube|T2TOQU2T338|Retains Olympic 100m}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_76h0OCM558 1968 Olympic Funky dance]
* [http://spaldingparksandrec.com/parks_wyomia_tyus_olympic.php Wyomia Tyus Olympic Park]

{{Footer Olympic Champions 100 m Women}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions 4x100 m Women}}
{{Footer Pan American Champions 200m Women}}
{{Footer US NC 100m Women}}
{{Footer US NC 200m Women}}
{{Footer US NC Indoor 60m Women}}
{{Footer USA Track & Field 1964 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer USA Track & Field 1968 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer Collegiate Track Field Cross Country Athlete Hall of Fame}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyus, Wyomia}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Griffin, Georgia]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from California]]
[[Category:American female sprinters]]
[[Category:African-American track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field]]
[[Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Tennessee State Lady Tigers track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Contestants on American game shows]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners]]
[[Category:USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1967 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Olympic female sprinters]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American sportswomen]]
[[Category:21st-century American sportswomen]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportswomen]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]