The athlete from Albany in the southern state of Georgia also secured 25 National Championship victories, including 10 consecutive high jump titles, between 1939 and 1948, before announcing her retirement soon after her Olympic success at the age of 25. 



All these achievements were secured despite the prevailing handicap of segregation, with Davis reportedly practising with make-shift jumping equipment due to the fact she was prohibited from using public sports facilities because of her race.

A second challenge to her career was provided by the Second World War, with Davis later speculating that without the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Games due to the War, she could have added to her medal haul. 

Following her eventual Olympic success, Davis was honoured with a reported 175-mile motorcade in Georgia when she returned from London, followed by an official Ceremony in Albany in which the crowd was segregated and she was not allowed to speak.

Four years later she was chosen by Coca-Cola to become the first black female athlete to endorse an international consumer product.

Following her retirement, she worked as a school teacher and track coach, with an elementary school in her home town named in her honour and opening in August 1999, according to Dougherty County schools officials.