Tigerbelle

By Wyomia Tyus, Elizabeth Terzakis,

Book cover of Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story

Book description

Finalist for the Track and Field Writers of America’s 2018 Armory Foundation Book Award

"Tyus proves as winning a storyteller as she was a runner...The 'a' in Wyomia is silent, but thankfully, the woman who owns that name is not."
--New York Times Book Review

"Tigerbelle offers a fresh perspective…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Tigerbelle as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In this memoir, Wyomia Tyus tells of her journey from Georgia as a sharecropper’s daughter to how she landed a coveted spot on the Tennessee State women’s track and field team, the Tigerbelles, and her domination in Olympic sprinting during the 1960s, a reign that included three gold medals and one silver. The story of Tyus and the Tigerbelles has been likened to a sports version of Hidden Figures and the comparison is apt. Though Tyus and her teammates never graced the cover of a Wheaties box or Sports Illustrated, these African-American women became an unparalleled force in track…

From Elise's list on inspirational women athletes.

If you love Tigerbelle...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Tigerbelle?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Tigerbelle.

Browse books like Tigerbelle

Book cover of We Ride Upon Sticks
Book cover of A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History
Book cover of Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,605

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Tigerbelle, you might also like...

Book cover of A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France

A Long Way from Iowa By Janet Hulstrand,

This memoir chronicles the lives of three generations of women with a passion for reading, writing, and travel. The story begins in 1992 in an unfinished attic in Brooklyn as the author reads a notebook written by her grandmother nearly 100 years earlier. This sets her on a 30-year search…

Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? By Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in women, the Olympics, and presidential biography?

Women 658 books
The Olympics 37 books