When Helen Stephens was fifteen years old, a track coach saw her playing pickup basketball and asked her to run a time trial in the school driveway. In that first-ever 50-yard dash, Stephens tied the world record. Only a year later at the 1936 Olympics, she would win two gold medals and her record would stand for twenty-four years. Meet this “forgotten legend” of US track with Fast Girls author Elise Hooper.

[Note: Helen Stephens’ world-record breaking time for the 100m at the 1936 Olympics was 11.5 seconds. She would never lose a race in her lifetime.]

A native New Englander, Guest Elise Hooper spent several years writing for television and online news outlets before getting a MA and teaching high-school literature and history. She now lives in Seattle with her husband and two daughters and is the author of The Other Alcott, Learning to See, and Fast Girls.

Music in this episode provided by The New Hot 5, The Westerlies, Doug Maxwell, Chris Haugen, Late Night Feeler and Cooper Cannell.

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