[3] Bland nearly qualified for the 1932 Summer Olympics team in 1932,[3] and protested the decision to exclude her.

[4] After a fundraising campaign by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, to cover her travel expenses,[5][6] and losing her track shoes and handbag in New York before sailing for Berlin,[7] she competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics, under track coach Dee Boeckmann, in the individual 100m and 4 × 100 m relay.

She won a gold medal in the relay, with Betty Robinson, Annette Rogers, and Helen Stephens.

[1] Bland was honored upon her return, alongside other American Olympians, at a parade in New York City.

[4] She died from a heart attack at her son's home in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1991, aged 76 years.