On a freezing afternoon in 1928, Charles Price was standing on a Chicago platform, waiting to board a commuter train. He noticed 16-year-old Betty Robinson running toward the station.

“She’s not going to make it,” he thought.

Price got on board and took a seat. A couple of seconds later, Betty got aboard and took the seat next to him. She wasn’t even breathing hard.

Price was Betty’s biology teacher at Thornton Township High. He was also the coach of the boys’ track and field team. Impressed with Betty’s speed, he timed her running 50 yards down a corridor at school. She was, indeed, fast. Thornton High didn’t have a girls’ track team, so Price invited Betty to train with the boys.

A few weeks later, in March, Betty competed in a girls’ regional event. She took second in the 100-meter race and was invited to join the Illinois Athletic Women’s Club.

In June, Betty ran her second race. This time, she won.

A month after that, she went to Newark, New Jersey for the Olympic trials. She made the team.

At the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Betty won the gold medal in the 100-meter race. She was only 16 and had been running competitively for six months. She set her sights on the 1932 Olympics. With four years to train, imagine how fast she could be.

In 1931, with the Olympics only a year away, Betty had finished her freshman year at Northwestern University. June 28 was a hot day, and Betty thought of a way to cool off. She asked her cousin, who owned a small plane, to take her flying.

The takeoff was normal and all seemed well. However, a couple of hundred feet in the air, the engine stalled and the plane went into a nosedive, crashing in a marshy field. It was a horrific crash and Betty and her cousin were both badly injured.

Betty, in fact, appeared to be dead, so a man put her in the trunk of his car and drove her to an undertaker. When it was determined that a mistake had been made, Betty was driven to a hospital. Her injuries were extensive, including a badly broken leg, hip, and arm. There were internal injuries, as well. It was doubtful she would ever walk again.

Betty, however, was determined not just to walk, but to run. She looked beyond 1932 and set her sights on the 1936 Olympics. Slowly, painfully, with grit and determination, she worked on standing up. Next came learning to walk. And then, beyond everyone’s expectations, she started to run.

In 1936, Betty couldn’t bend her left knee enough to get into the starting crouch for a 100-meter race. So she tried out for the Olympic 4×100-meter relay team. If she wasn’t the starter, she wouldn’t have to crouch, just run.

She made the team. The team won gold.

Betty Robinson. When things get tough, remember that name.