In this series ahead of Tokyo 2020, we will take a look at athletes who have been an integral part of the Olympic Games folklore over the...
In this series ahead of Tokyo 2020, we will take a look at athletes who have been an integral part of the Olympic Games folklore over the past century and more.
Jesse Owens: More than just a superstar
Fact-file:
- Olympic Medals: 4 Gold
- Olympic Games participations: 1
- Only Olympic Games: Berlin 1936
- Year of Birth: 1913
Owens travelled to Berlin to take part in the 1936 Olympics – an event overseen by Adolf Hitler, which the new German chancellor hoped would profile the supremacy of the Aryan ‘master race’.
It wasn’t to be: the African-American Owens stole the show. He won the 100m in 10.30 seconds, the 200m in 20.70 seconds, and then the long jump, with an impressive leap of 8.06 metres – apparently after getting some advice about his run-up from a German competitor, Luz Long. His fourth gold came in the 4x100m relay, in which Owens formed a key part of the team that set a new world record of 39.80 seconds.
James Cleveland Owens. One of the greatest. As his USA teammate Archie Williams later said, “I would say he is the superman of our team.
It’s a shame that an athlete as great as Owens could participate in just one Olympic Games.
Owens exploded the Nazi-propagated myth of Aryan racial superiority when he won four athletics...
