Jesse Owens at Berlin 1936

Lore & Background

Owens achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited by ESPN with 'single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy'. On August 9, Owens won his fourth gold medal in the 4 × 100 m sprint relay when head coach Lawso (source text cuts off; the relay win is confirmed, but the leg Owens ran is not specified in the source).

In Their Own Story

The Berlin stadium hummed with a nervous energy as the starter raised his pistol. Jesse Owens settled into his blocks, the cinder track cool beneath his fingers. He had already heard the whispers—the Führer's box, the propaganda about Aryan athletes. But as the gun cracked, all that dissolved into the pure rhythm of his stride. He crossed the 100-meter finish line first, a full meter ahead, and the crowd's roar was a mix of awe and reluctant admiration. Later, in the long jump pit, Luz Long walked over and said, 'You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed.' Owens took a deep breath, jumped, and sailed into history.

Reader's Guide

Owens won the 100 m dash on August 3 with a time of 10.3 seconds. On August 4, he won the long jump with a leap of 8.06 meters (3¼ inches short of his own world record). On August 5, he won the 200-meter sprint with a time of 20.7 seconds. On August 9, he won his fourth gold medal in the 4 × 100 m sprint relay.

Did You Know?

• Owens set five world records and tied another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten Championships.
• He won eight individual NCAA titles, a record that remains unmatched.
• Owens was the grandson of a slave and moved from Alabama to Ohio as part of the Great Migration.
• He was voted the greatest track and field athlete of the first half of the century in a 1950 Associated Press poll.