Willye White

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Medal record
Women’s Athletics
Competitor for United States
Olympic Games
Silver	1956 Melbourne	Long jump
Silver	1964 Tokyo	4 x 100 metres

Willye White (January 1, 1939 – February 6, 2007) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and 100 metres.

She competed for the United States in 5 Olympic Games, winning her first Olympic medal in 1956 by placing second in the long jump. She then competed in the 1960 Olympics, 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan in the 4 x 100 metres (where she won the silver medal with her teammates Wyomia Tyus, Marilyn White and Edith McGuire), the 1968 Olympics and 1972 Olympics.

She was a 16-year-old sophomore in high school when she won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia. It marked the first time an American woman ever won a medal in that event. She won her second silver medal in 1964 as a member of the 400-meter relay team in Tokyo. In all, she was a member of more than 30 international track and field teams and won a dozen Amateur Athletic Union long jump titles in her career, according to USA Track & Field, which inducted her into its hall of fame in 1981 -- one of her 11 sports hall of fame inductions. In 1999, Sports Illustrated for Women named her one of the 100 greatest women athletes in the 20th century.

Born in Money, Mississippi., and raised by her grandparents, she picked cotton to help her family earn money, while at the same time competing in sports. A longtime Chicago-area resident, she credited her experience as an athlete with allowing her to see beyond the racism and hatred that surrounded her as a child.

White died of pancreatic cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to Sarah Armantrout, a longtime friend who was with White when she died.