Alice coachman
Alice Coachman became the first African-American woman to win a gold medal at the London Olympics in 1948. She was a high jumper at the Olympics, and she was also the only woman to win any kind of medal at these Olympics. Coachman held the best jump at the U.S. national championships from the years of 1939 to 1948. Coachman made due with whatever she could to train for her events, because it was still frowned upon for women to participate in sports. When Coachman was 16 she received a scholarship to attend Tuskegee Prepatory School, where she participated in basketball as well as track. She set her first record in 1939, when she jumped BAREFOOT. Coachman was honored in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as one of the top 100 Olympic Athletes of all time.