First Black Female Olympic Gold Medalist Dies

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Alice Coachman, who became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she captured the high jump for the United States at the 1948 London Games, died Monday in her hometown of Albany, Ga.

Coachman (later known as Alice Coachman Davis) received her historic medal from King George VI. She was then invited aboard a British Royal yacht, was congratulated by President Harry S. Truman at the White House, was honored with a party hosted by jazz legend Count Basie, and was even celebrated in a motorcade that wound its way through Georgia from Atlanta to Albany.

During a time when there were few high-profile black athletes besides Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis, Coachman became a pioneer. She led the way for female African-American Olympic track stars like Wilma Rudolph, Evelyn Ashford, Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

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“I made a difference among the blacks, being one of the leaders,” she said in an interview with The New York Times from 1996. “If I had gone to the Games and failed, there wouldn’t be anyone to follow in my footsteps. It encouraged the rest of the women to work harder and fight harder.”

Coachman had been treated at a nursing home for a stroke in recent months and went into cardiac arrest after being transferred to a hospital on Monday with breathing difficulties.

Alice Coachman was 90.