Stella the Fella, Dora the Herman, and Princess Grace
On Dec. 4, 1980, one of the greatest athletes in women's track history was shot and killed in Cleveland. Stella Walsh, who lived in the United States from age 2 but competed for Poland, was 69.
Stella had a long and illustrious career. She set a world record in the 100-yard dash in 1930, running a 10.8; and she won gold and equaled the 100-meter world record of 11.9 in L.A. in 1932. She took a silver in Berlin in 1936, losing to rival Helen Stephens. According to Olympic historian David Wallechinsky, Stephens faced questioning about her gender, but the Germans backed her up, saying they had checked her out and she was, indeed, female.
But Stella was not, as her autopsy revealed. She had male sex organs, but was neither completely male nor completely female. The Washington Post reported that the deputy coroner said the case was "not black or white. Nature is infinite in her manifestations. This case is unique in my experience. We haven't put down a final diagnosis or conclusion as to sexuality."
Walsh had been married, but her former husband couldn't shed much light on the question. They had had sex, he said, only "a couple of times, and she wouldn't let me have the lights on."
Walsh was an all-around star who competed in the sprints, the discus, and the long jump. She held world records in four events, and won 28 outdoor national championships. In 1975, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Maybe those 1936 Olympics should be nicknamed the weird sex games.
Stella was the best -- but not the only -- fella competing in the women's events. Also up: Dora Ratjen, who finished fourth in the high jump. (In 1938, he/she won the European championship with a world-record jump.) In the mid-1950s "Dora" -- actually a Hamburg waiter named Herman -- came out as a male. He said the Nazis forced him into the ruse.
Word had it that he -- it hurts just to think about it -- scrunched up his bits in order to pass. But the tactic didn't fool silver medalist Dorothy Odam. "I was positive that she was a man," she wrote in a recent letter to the London Sunday Telegraph.
At the 1976 Montreal Games, all female athletes underwent sex testing. Except one. Princess Anne, 25, of Britain, who competed in equestrian events, got a free ride, so to speak.
