A Very Brief Story Of Jesse Owens At The Olympics

In 1936, a young Jesse Owens, who just graduated from the Ohio State University made history at the Olympics in Berlin, where the most physically fit push themselves to win against other nations. Jesse set a record at that Olympics that would stand for a remarkable 48 years, but what he had to go against, “During a time of deep-rooted segregation, he not only discredited Hitler's master race theory, but also affirmed that individual excellence, rather than race or national origin, distinguishes one man from another.”This is why Jesse Owens is in the record books for the rest of time. Jesse Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama on September 12th , 1913, and was the seventh child of Henry and Emma Alexander Owens. Jesse was a son of a sharecropper
He won four gold medals, in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and the long jump. He was able to break or equal nine Olympic records and also set three world records, the record in the 4x100m relay wouldn’t be broken until 20 years later. He also became the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad until the 1984 Olympics Games in Los Angeles, when Carl Lewis matched Jesse’s feat. He was “the darling of the German crowd, but readers of the Atlanta Constitution and other newspapers of the white American South did not see any picture of him, while most of the German press celebrated him as much as warranted a four-time gold medal winner and hero of the Games.” This irritated Adolf Hitler, although he did applaud Owens speed, he didn’t want anybody of African descent to be allowed to participate in the first place. An passage from a newspaper article in the book “The Nazi Olympics”, “Chancellor Hitler, who has yet to pay homage to any of the Negroes whose spectacular performance has done more than any other single factor to make these the greatest Olympics in history, left the stadium immediately after the conclusion of [Owens’s] race.” Hitler would only meet with white athletes who won gold and non-other athletes in public and his VIP box at the games. The public waited for Hitler to give a gesture toward the towering Jesse Owens but he never did. Jesse Owens said in his
“He was a dreamer who could make the dreams of others come true, a speaker who could make the world listen and a man who held out hope to millions of young people.” In 1976, Jesse was awarded the highest civilian honor in the United States when President Gerald Ford presented him with the Medal of Freedom. President Carter said Jesse was "A young man who possibly didn't even realize the superb nature of his own capabilities went to the Olympics and performed in a way that I don't believe has ever been equaled since...and since this superb achievement, he has continued in his own dedicated but modest way to inspire others to reach for greatness.” Jesse Owens died from complications due to lung cancer on March 31, 1980. His legacy still lives where his three daughters, Gloria, Marlene, and Beverly, and their work with the Jesse Owens Foundation continues to carry on his legacy by providing financial assistance, support, and services to young individuals with untapped potential in order to develop their talents, broaden their horizons, and become better citizens. Adolf Hitler hoped that the 1936 Berlin Games would prove his theory of Aryan racial