{{Short description|Polish-American athlete (1911–1980)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = | nickname = | image = Stanisława Walasiewicz 1938.jpg | image_size = | caption = Stanisława Walasiewicz in 1938 | birth_date = 3 April 1911 | birth_place = Wierzchownia, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire | death_date = 4 December 1980 (aged 69) | death_place = Cleveland, Ohio, United States | height = {{convert|1.74|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | weight = {{convert|60|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}} | sport = Athletics | event = 100 m, 200 m, long jump Discus (A)mateur)) | club = Warszawianka, Warszawa <br/>Legia Warszawa | pb = 100 yd – 10.5 (1944)<br/> 100 m – 11.6 (1937)<br/> 200 m – 23.6 (1935)<br/> long jump – 6.12 m (1939)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wa/stanislawa-walasiewicz-1.html|title=Stanisława Walasiewicz|website=Sports Reference|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204151629/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wa/stanislawa-walasiewicz-1.html|archive-date=4 December 2009}}</ref> | alma_mater = | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Women's athletics}} {{MedalCountry|{{POL}}}} {{MedalCount |Olympic Games|1|1|0 |World Championships|0|0|0 |European Championships|2|0|0 |Women's World Games|4|2|0 |'''Total'''|'''7'''|'''3'''|'''0''' }} {{Medal|Competition|Olympic Games}} {{Medal|Gold| 1932 Los Angeles | 100 m}} {{Medal|Silver| 1936 Berlin | 100 m}} {{Medal|Competition|Women's World Games}} {{Medal|Gold| 1930 Prague | 60 m}} {{Medal|Gold| 1930 Prague | 100 m}} {{Medal|Gold| 1930 Prague | 200 m}} {{Medal|Gold| 1934 London | 60 m}} {{Medal|Silver| 1934 London | 100 m}} {{Medal|Silver| 1934 London | 200 m}} {{Medal|Bronze| 1930 Prague | 4×100 m}} {{MedalCompetition|European Championships}} {{MedalGold| 1938 Paris|100 m}} {{MedalGold| 1938 Paris|200 m}} {{MedalSilver|1938 Paris|4×100 m}} {{MedalSilver|1938 Paris|Long jump}} }}

'''Stanisława Walasiewicz''' (3 April 1911 – 4 December 1980), also known as '''Stefania Walasiewicz''',<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/634342/Stanislawa-Walasiewicz|title=Stefania Walasiewicz|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=30 March 2024 }}</ref> and '''Stella Walsh''',<ref>{{cite book |title=The Book of Olympic Lists |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofolympiclis0000wall |url-access=registration |first=David |last=Wallechinsky |year= 2012 |isbn= 978-1845137731 |page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofolympiclis0000wall/page/19 19]|publisher=Aurum Press }}</ref> was a Polish-American track and field 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), so-called Congress Poland.<ref name="birth">Some sources also cite 7 and 11 April</ref> Her family emigrated to the United States when she was three months old. Her parents, Julian and Weronika Walasiewicz (in USA Veronica), settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where her father found a job as a steel mill worker.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales">{{cite news|url=http://szukaj.gazeta.pl/archiwum/1,0,4144041.html?wyr=Walasiewicz%2B%2B%2B|title=Walasiewicz była kobietą|language=pl|trans-title=Walasiewicz Was a Woman|newspaper=Gazeta Wyborcza|page=8|volume=190|date=14 August 2004|author1=Klaudia Snochowska-Gonzales|author2=Tomasz Kuzia|access-date=31 May 2006|archive-date=14 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514085621/http://www.archiwum.wyborcza.pl/Archiwum/1,0,4144041.html?wyr=Walasiewicz+++|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 of America.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales"/>

==Athletic career== Walasiewicz started her athletic career at South High 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.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales"/> The success of Halina Konopacka, a Polish athlete who won gold in the discus throw at the 1928 Summer Olympics, 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, she scored her first major international victories; she won five gold medals: in the 60 metre, 100 metre, 200 metre and 400 metre races, as well as the long jump.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales"/> 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).<ref name=usatf>[http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAOutdoorTF/women/100m.aspx USA Track & Field – USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226164549/http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAOutdoorTF/women/100m.aspx |date=26 December 2021 }}. Usatf.org. Retrieved on 13 July 2015.</ref> For her part in interstate athletic championships, the city of Cleveland awarded her a car.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales"/><ref name=USALJ/> 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.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales"/><ref name="Citizenship">At the time of Walasiewicz's birth, Poland was under partition, and she was officially a citizen of the Russian Empire despite the state's not existing as a result of the Russian Civil War.</ref> In 1930, she was chosen the most popular Polish athlete by readers of the {{lang|pl|italic=yes|Przegląd Sportowy}} (''Sports Review'') daily.<ref name="Przegląd Sportowy">{{cite web|url=http://www.ozarow.maz.pl/ozarowianka/plebiscyt.htm|title=Plebiscyt PS|website=ozarow.maz.pl|access-date=13 July 2015}}</ref>

In the 1932 Summer Olympics, Walasiewicz represented Poland. In the 100&nbsp;m dash, Walasiewicz equaled then world record of 11.9 seconds and won the gold medal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6344437/|title=Women's 100 meter run finals|date=August 3, 1932|newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 23, 2016}} {{free access}}</ref> On the same day, she finished 6th out of 9 in the discus throw event.<ref name="PKOl">{{cite web|year=2005|url=http://www.olimpijski.pl/10322.html|title=Los Angeles – 1932.08.02|work=Polski Portal Olimpijski PKOl|publisher=Polish Olympic Committee|access-date=1 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203092324/http://www.olimpijski.pl/10322.html|archive-date=3 February 2006|url-status=dead|df=dmy}}</ref> Upon her return to Poland, she almost instantly became a well-known personality. She was welcomed by crowds in the port of Gdynia, 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.<ref name="Przegląd Sportowy"/>

In spring 1933, Walasiewicz appeared at the Championships of Warsaw, where she won nine gold medals in track and field, including 80 metres hurdling, 4 × 200 relay, and long jump.<ref name="Bazylow">{{cite web|author=Krzysztof Bazylow|date=25 October 2004|url=http://new.sports.pl/index.php?show=1&s=15&ns=42900&action=send_to_friend&sid=806ffe2f50f5c147e02cc1bacd500c0c|language=pl|title=1933 – Stanisława Walasiewicz|website=sports.pl|access-date=1 June 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930043449/http://new.sports.pl/index.php?show=1&s=15&ns=42900&action=send_to_friend&sid=806ffe2f50f5c147e02cc1bacd500c0c|archive-date=30 September 2007|df=dmy}}</ref> On 17 September 1933, in Poznań, she beat two world records in one day: 7.4 seconds for the 60&nbsp;m and 11.8 seconds for the 100&nbsp;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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6344461/|title=Bettered Olympic mark in broad jump; America leads by forty-five points now|date=August 5, 1936|newspaper=Times Herald |location=New York|author=Stuart Cameron|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 23, 2016}} {{free access}}</ref> Stephens was accused by a Polish newspaper reporter of being male and was given a genital inspection by the International Olympic Committee,<ref>Waters, Michael (2024). ''The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 234.</ref> which confirmed her gender as female.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6344479/|title=Helen Stephens is real girl|date=August 6, 1936|newspaper=Harrisburg Telegraph|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=August 23, 2016}} {{free access}}</ref>

After the Olympic Games, Walasiewicz moved to the US and resumed her amateur career.<ref name="Snochowska-Gonzales"/> During and after World War II, she won American national championships in the 100 metres (1943, 1944 and 1948), the 200 metres (1939–1940 and 1942–1948), the discus throw (1941–1942), and the long jump (1938–1946, 1948 and 1951).<ref name=usatf/><ref name=USALJ/>

In 1947, she accepted American citizenship, and she later married aviation draftsman Harry Olson in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ISOR/isor2014h.pdf|title=The Strange Tale of Stella Walsh's Olympic Eligibility|website=Amateur Athletic Foundation|author1=Toby C. Rider (Pennsylvania State University, Berks, USA)|author2=Sarah Teetzel (University of Manitoba, Canada)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825200102/http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ISOR/isor2014h.pdf|archive-date=25 August 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name=USALJ>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAOutdoorTF/women/LJ.aspx|title=USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions—Women's Long Jump|website=USA Track & Field|access-date=13 July 2015|archive-date=26 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226164549/http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAOutdoorTF/women/LJ.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/YouBetYourLife1|title=You Bet Your Life 35 Eps : Free Download & Streaming|website=Archive.org|date=16 June 1954|access-date=13 July 2015}}</ref>

==Death== Walsh was killed during an armed robbery in a parking lot in Cleveland, on December 4, 1980.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=174sAAAAIBAJ&pg=6623,1399646|title=Olympic track star Stella Walsh dies|newspaper=Wilmington Morning Star|date=December 6, 1980|access-date=August 23, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/12/06/archives/stella-walsh-slain-olympic-track-star-polishborn-sprinter-69-is.html|title=Stella Walsh Slain; Olympic Track Star|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 6, 1980|page=20}} {{ProQuest|121246455}}</ref> She was buying ribbons for a welcoming ceremony for visiting Polish basketball players when the assault occurred.<ref name="Tricard1996">{{cite book|author=Louise Mead Tricard|title=American Women's Track and Field: A History, 1895 Through 1980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvrwcB3DeEwC&pg=PA645|date=1 January 1996|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-0219-9|page=645}}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cohn |first=Victor |date=January 23, 1981 |title=Famed Olympic Medalist Stella Walsh Wasn't a 'She,' Autopsy Finds |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/01/24/famed-olympic-medalist-stella-walsh-wasnt-a-she-autopsy-finds/a4102ef3-7307-40f1-acd5-abcd13bb26e3/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827152514/https://www.washingtonpost.com/web/20170827152514/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/01/24/famed-olympic-medalist-stella-walsh-wasnt-a-she-autopsy-finds/a4102ef3-7307-40f1-acd5-abcd13bb26e3/?utm_term=.bc3c7ac3febb |archive-date=August 27, 2017 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |quote=What the autopsy showed to the examiner's eyes was that Walsh had only a "hypoplastic" or tiny, incomplete -- if still obvious -- penis with no normal opening, and equally small testes. She had no female organs, external or internal, according to the report. She had "masculine" breasts, it said, and an abnormal urinary opening near the scrotum.}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Cohn |first=Victor |date=February 13, 1981 |title=Stella Walsh Found By Coroner to Have Mainly Male Genes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/02/13/stella-walsh-found-by-coroner-to-have-mainly-male-genes/2f598f52-98e5-4884-b928-d1b35246f3ab/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827164828/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/02/13/stella-walsh-found-by-coroner-to-have-mainly-male-genes/2f598f52-98e5-4884-b928-d1b35246f3ab/ |archive-date=August 27, 2017 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |quote=Coroner Samuel Gerber made it clear the runner, an Olympic gold medal winner in 1932 and a competitor into the 1950s, had only male sex organs, though small, nonfunctional ones.}}</ref><ref name="tullis2013">{{cite web |author=Tullis |first=Matt |date=June 27, 2013 |title=Who was Stella Walsh? The story of the intersex Olympian |url=https://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/6/27/4466724/stella-walsh-profile-intersex-olympian |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610042700/https://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/6/27/4466724/stella-walsh-profile-intersex-olympian |archive-date=June 10, 2023 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |website=SB Nation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ritchie |first1=Robert |last2=Reynard |first2=John |last3=Lewis |first3=Tom |date=2008-08-01 |title=Intersex and the Olympic Games |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine |language=en |volume=101 |issue=8 |pages=395–399 |doi=10.1258/jrsm.2008.080086 |issn=0141-0768 |pmc=2500237 |pmid=18687862 |quote=A post-mortem examination confirmed that Walsh possessed ambiguous genitalia and abnormal sex chromosomes, although the exact DSD was not established.}}</ref> Walsh also reportedly had genetic mosaicism. Most of her cells contained XY chromosomes, but some contained a single X0 chromosome.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 12, 1981 |title=Tests Show Athlete Had 2 Chromosome Types |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/12/us/tests-show-athlete-had-2-chromosome-types.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229182957/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/12/us/tests-show-athlete-had-2-chromosome-types.html |archive-date=December 29, 2021 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="tullis2013" />

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 that she wondered why God had done this to her.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vigil|first=Vicki Blum|year=2007|title=Cemeteries of Northeast Ohio: Stones, Symbols & Stories|location=Cleveland, Ohio|publisher=Gray & Company|isbn=978-1-59851-025-6}}</ref>

Walasiewicz was discussed on BBC Radio 4's ''The Long View'' in April 2019 when the contentious issue was the "Gender in women's sport".<ref name="Long View">{{cite episode|title=Gender in women's sport|series=The Long View|credits=Presenter: Jonathan Freedland|network=BBC|station=BBC Radio 4|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004l75|air-date=30 April 2019|access-date=2 May 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=DeMarco |first=Laura |date=2015-03-23 |title=Cleveland Olympian Stella Walsh gets time in spotlight with winning documentary: Cleveland International Film Festival 2015 |url=https://www.cleveland.com/movies/2015/03/cleveland_olympian_stella_wals.html |work=Cleveland.com |access-date=2024-03-30}}</ref>

==See also== *Gender verification in sports

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Stanisława Walasiewicz}} *{{Olympics.com profile|org_archive=20210420}} *{{Olympedia}} *{{World Athletics|14557987}} *[http://www.stellawalsh.com/ Stella Walsh: A Documentary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304132124/http://www.stellawalsh.com/ |date=4 March 2014 }} *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927132615/http://www.gendercentre.org.au/resources/polare-archive/archived-articles/great-outings-of-history.htm |date=27 September 2013 |title=Great Outings of History}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 100 m Women}} {{Footer European Champions 100 m Women}} {{Footer European Champions 200 m Women}} {{Ohio Women's Hall of Fame}} {{USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners in women's 200 m}} {{USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners in women's basketball throw}} {{Footer US NC 100m Women}} {{Footer US NC 200m Women}} {{Footer US NC Long Jump Women}} {{Footer US NC Discus Throw Women}} {{Footer US NC Indoor 60m Women}} {{Awards of Plebiscite of Przegląd Sportowy}} {{authority control}}

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