The extraordinary story of the Polish-born — and later American — athlete who won Olympic gold, but whose biological characteristics were revealed only after her death. Stanisława Walasiewicz, later known as Stella Walsh, was raised as a girl in the close-knit environment of a Polish village. Upon moving to the United States and competing in track and field — her event being the 100 metres — she was forced to keep a major secret hidden.
In 1980, at the age of 69, after a life filled with medals and acclaim, she was targeted by two robbers and murdered in Cleveland.
The autopsy revealed a shocking truth. The so-called “Queen of the Sprints” had been born with both male and female chromosomes — a condition that today is described as intersex.