“What does that have to do with us?” Helen asked.
“Mr. Brundage is worried about antagonizing our hosts with more successes from colored women, and as you’ve pointed out, we have a bunch of women who could run in the relay without offending Herr Hitler.”
“But why Harriet? How about Olive or Josephine?” Helen grumbled.
“Harriet enlisted some influential sponsors to her cause. I may have to race her to keep everyone happy.”
“Well, I can think of at least a couple of people who won’t be happy,” Helen said. “Listen, running’s all I’ve got. We have to win this. Harriet shouldn’t be our fourth.”
“I have a long history with Harriet and she’s a friend,” Dee snapped. “Helen, running isn’t all you have. Look around. You need to think about what’s really important.” And with that, she stormed from the room.
Helen blinked. She reached to her bedpost and lifted her gold medal from where she had hung it the previous afternoon. Lying on her palm, it felt heavy and cold, but it glimmered. Wasn’t her life supposed to be amazing now that she had won? Instead it felt like she had lost everything.
But had she?
Helen startled as Betty plunked down on the bed to lean against her shoulder. She looked down on the straight part in Betty’s golden hair, inhaled her scent of lemon shampoo and damp wool sweater, and felt a knot inside her loosen. Since Harriet had handed her that newspaper article in the dining hall, Helen’s mind had barely stopped spinning, but with a start, she realized she had overlooked something important.
None of her teammates had believed the lies. People believed in her.
55.
August 7, 1936
Berlin
“CAN YOU TAPE IT INTO MY SHOE?” TIDYE ASKED, HER face contorted in pain.
Louise stared at Tidye’s bare foot. Since the previous day’s accident, purple bruising had darkened and the foot had swelled. Louise lowered to her knees in front of where Tidye sat on her bed. How was she going to slide a sock over it, much less get her shoe on?
How had things gone so wrong?
The previous day had started gray with rain forecast for later in the afternoon, and the women felt fortunate that the weather was cooperating for the morning’s competitions. In the stadium, Louise awaited Tidye’s race while seated next to Mack in the front row, sunken below the track. He smiled and his big brown eyes gleamed.
“Winning medals agrees with you, doesn’t it?” Louise said, tucking herself in close to him, not so close that anyone else would notice, but close enough to feel warm, feel the solidity of him beside her.
The starting gun fired, and on the track, the women headed toward the first hurdle and sailed over it.
“I won’t deny that I’m enjoying some of the perks that come along with winning.” Mack ran a finger along Louise’s bare forearm, sending a shiver up her spine. She gave him a wink but her delight was short-lived.
Because she was distracted by Mack, Louise almost missed it: the split second when Tidye’s toe didn’t quite clear the top of the bar on the third hurdle. In the air, Tidye fought to right herself, to fix the imbalance that catching her toe had caused. Louise held her breath as Tidye raised her arms to the sky as if reaching for something to steady herself, but nothing came to her rescue. Instead she crashed to the cinder. Louise felt her breath catch as Dee and several officials scuttled to where Tidye lay crumpled into a ball.
After Tidye had been carried off the field, she downplayed her injuries and sent away the medical staff that had descended upon her, before waving Louise over. “Help me get out of here without anyone noticing,” Tidye gasped.
Without asking questions, Louise and Mack smuggled Tidye out of the stadium and returned her to Friesenhaus.
A day had passed, and judging by the worsened state of her foot, there was no doubt about it: Tidye could not be considered for the relay. Louise lowered the roll of medical tape to the floor. “Do you really want to try this?”
Tidye winced. “I’m out, aren’t I?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see how you can race. You can’t even walk.”
Tidye covered her face with her hands. “But this was my chance,” she wept.
Something in Louise snapped. “You got your chance. It didn’t end the way you wanted, but you had your moment to run and compete. I would give anything for a shot like that. I’ve come all this way and wanted to race so badly that I can barely stand it. I know your foot is hurting, and you can cry because of the pain, but don’t cry because you didn’t get a chance. You got it and you should be proud.”
Tidye inhaled sharply, but before she could say anything, a knock at the door made them both jump. A voice called out, “Come on out to the lounge. Dee’s holding a meeting about the relay.”
The sound of feet shuffling away from their door made Tidye sigh. “True, but this sure isn’t how I wanted my chance to go.”
“Somewhere back in New York, an old AOC bigwig paid money to send you here to represent the United States. They only paid for you and four other women. Don’t forget that. And today, thousands of people watched you line up to race wearing a United States team uniform. They all saw
