Jesse OWENS - Olympic Athletics | United States of America Jesse OWENS Jesse Owens became a sporting legend for his achievements at the 1936 Berlin Games. Sporting history In 1935, Jesse Owens made sporting history when he broke five world records and equalled a sixth in the space of 45 minutes. One of these world records, 8.13m in the long jump, would last for 25 years. Berlin 1936 At the 1936 Berlin Games, Owens won four gold medals, in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and the long jump. He managed to break or equal nine Olympic records and also set three world records. One of those world records was in the 4x100m relay. The quartet set a time that wouldn’t be bettered for 20 years. Defying Hitler Adolf Hitler hoped that the 1936 Berlin Games would prove his theory of Aryan racial superiority. Instead, Owens’ achievements led the people of Berlin to hail him, an African-American, as a hero.

Posthumous honours Jesse Owens died of lung cancer in 1980. Since then a street and a school have been named after him in Berlin, two US postage stamps have been issued in his honour, and a memorial park has been opened in Alabama, amongst other tributes. Owens wins 4th gold medal - Aug 09, 1936 - HISTORY.com Owens wins 4th gold medal Share this: Owens wins 4th gold medal Author Owens wins 4th gold medal URL Publisher A+E Networks At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, African American track star Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the Games in the 4×100-meter relay. His relay team set a new world record of 39.8 seconds, which held for 20 years. In their strong showing in track-and-field events at the XIth Olympiad, Jesse Owens and other African American athletes struck a propaganda blow against Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who planned to use the Berlin Games as a showcase of supposed Aryan superiority. Born the son of Alabama sharecroppers in 1913, Owens emerged as a major track talent while attending high school in Cleveland, Ohio.

Later, at Ohio State University, he demonstrated himself to be one of the greatest athletes in the world. In a single day of competition–May 25, 1935–Owens broke the world records for the 220-yard dash, the 220-yard low hurdles, and the running broad jump, and equaled the world record for the 100-yard dash. The next summer, Owens and 311 other American athletes, including 17 African Americans, traveled to Nazi Germany to represent the United States at the XIth Olympiad. In 1931, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1936 Summer Olympics to Berlin. The choice was meant to signal Germany’s return to the world community after defeat in World War I. Two years later, however, Adolf Hitler came to power. He transformed the democratic German government into a one-party dictatorship, purged political opponents and suspected dissidents, instituted anti-Semitic policies, and began the remilitarization of Germany. Hitler initially held the Olympics in low regard because of their internationalism but became an avid supporter after Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels convinced him of their propaganda value.

Seen as an opportunity to advance Nazi ideology, Hitler provided extensive funding for the Berlin Games, which promised to be the largest modern Olympics to date. The Nazi government used sport as part of its drive to strengthen the “Aryan race,” and “Non-Aryans”–Jewish, part-Jewish, or Gypsy athletes–were systematically excluded from Nazi-sponsored sports facilities and associations. By 1935, a number of athletic groups in the United States were pushing for a boycott of the Berlin Games, but after a heated debate U.S. participation was narrowly approved in December 1935. A number of prominent Jewish athletes in the United States and other countries decided to independently boycott the Games in protest of Nazi oppression of Jews. Spain also planned an alternate “People’s Olympics” to be held in Barcelona in July 1936, but the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War forced its cancellation. In the end, 49 nations sent some 4,000 athletes to the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Under international pressure, the Nazis agreed to allow one part-Jewish athlete on its Olympic team: fencer Helene Mayer.

However, Joseph Goebbels forbid the Nazi-controlled German press from discussing the ethnicity of the blond-haired Mayer. On August 1, 1936, Adolf Hitler opened the XIth Olympiad. The Olympic ritual of a runner arriving bearing a torch carried by relay from Olympia, Greece, occurred for the first time. The Nazis advertised this ceremony as a symbol of the myth that German civilization was the inheritor of the glorified culture of ancient Greece. Olympic flags and swastika-bearing Nazi banners hung everywhere in Berlin. To prevent controversy, the anti-Jewish signs hung throughout the city were removed during the Games, and Jewish athletes and visitors from other countries were not subjected to anti-Jewish laws. Gypsies were cleared off the streets and interned in a camp at the edge of Berlin. A festive and hospitable atmosphere pervaded the German capital, and most tourists left the city with positive memories of their stay there. With 348 athletes, Germany had the largest national team and captured the most medals overall, greatly pleasing Hitler. The Americans, however, dominated the popular track-and-field events.

On the first day of competition, Hitler, who had been congratulating German and select other winners, left the stadium shortly after three African Americans swept the high-jump event. Whether Hitler left to avoid shaking hands with non-Aryans is unclear. In the aftermath of the incident, Olympic organizers asked Hitler to either receive all the medal winners or none, and he chose the latter. Contrary to the popular myth, Hitler never directly snubbed Jesse Owens, but he did continue to privately receive German winners throughout the Games. With his four gold medals, Jesse Owens was the star of the Berlin Olympics. He equaled the world record (10.3 seconds) in the 100-meter race and broke the world records in the 200-meter race (20.7 seconds) and in the broad jump (26 feet 5 3/8 inches). He was enthusiastically applauded by the largely German crowd and developed a friendship with German long jumper and silver medalist Luz Long. However, he and other African American Olympians were demeaned by a Nazi newspaper that wrote of them as the “black auxiliaries” of the American team.

On August 9, Owens won his fourth medal as a member of the mixed-race 4×100-meter relay team. The world-record-breaking triumph was tainted by the revelation that U.S. coaches had benched two American Jewish relay runners the day before the event. Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were replaced with Owens and African American Ralph Metcalfe, the two best U.S. sprinters. However, both Stoller and Glickman had out-run Foy Draper, a white American who remained on the team, in a practice race. The coaches said Draper was more experienced, but Glickman and others thought that anti-Semitism was involved. Stoller, however, thought favoritism was to blame, as Draper and the fourth runner, Frank Wykoff, had trained under one of the Olympic coaches at the University of Southern California. Despite the embarrassment of seeing his best Aryan runners bested by African Americans, Adolf Hitler hailed the Berlin Olympics as a great success.

He commissioned a German architect to design a colossal, 400,000-seat stadium at Nuremberg that would host Olympics for “all time to come.” The outbreak of World War II in 1939 prevented the building of the stadium, and by 1945 Hitler’s plans for Nazi world domination had ended in absolute defeat. In the decades of Cold War that followed, the United States and the Soviet Union exploited the propaganda potential of the Olympic Games as freely as the Nazis did at Berlin in 1936. Although only 23, Jesse Owens retired from amateur competition shortly after the Berlin Olympics in order to capitalize on his fame. This effectively brought his athletic career to an end. He later engaged in boys’-guidance activities, made goodwill visits to Asia for the U.S. Department of State, and served as secretary of the Illinois State Athletic Commission. He died in 1980. Related Videos The 1936 Berlin Olympics - History Learning Site Home » Nazi Germany » The 1936 Berlin Olympics The 1936 Berlin Olympics Citation: C N Trueman "The 1936 Berlin Olympics" historylearningsite.co.uk.

The History Learning Site, 9 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. content The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games had been handed to Berlin before the Nazis came to power but now it was the perfect opportunity for Hitler to demonstrate to the world, how efficient the Nazi Germany was. It was also the perfect opportunity for the Nazis to prove to the world the reality of the Master Race. The Berlin Olympic Games gave the Nazis an opportunity to show off to the world as 49 countries were competing bringing with them their assorted media. For Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels , it was the perfect scenario. The Nazi Germany team had been allowed to train fulltime thus pushing to the limit the idea of amateur competition. Germany’s athletic superstar of the time was Lutz Lang – a brilliant long jumper who easily fitted into the image of blond hair, blue eyed Aryan racial superiority. By far the most famous athlete in the world was Jesse Owens of America – an African American and therefore, under Nazi ideology, inferior to the athletes in the German team. The vast Olympic stadium was completed on time and held 100,000 spectators. 150 other new Olympic buildings were completed on time for the event.

The anti-Semitic posters that had littered Germany before the games had disappeared. Signs that stated “Jews not welcome here” were not longer visible – anything was done to ensure that the Games went smoothly and caused no upset. In fact, the upset was caused in the stadium itself. The ‘racially inferior’ Owens won four gold medals; in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4 x 100m relay. During the Games he broke 11 Olympic records and defeated Lutz Lang in a very close long jump final. Lang was the first to congratulate Owens when the long jump final was over. There were 10 African American members of the American athletics team. Between them they won 7 gold medals, 3 silvers and 3 bronze – more than any national team won in track and field at the Games, except America itself. Hitler refused to place the gold medal around Owen’s neck. The one area where the Nazis seemed to excel was in the use of radio for the reporters. Twenty transmitting vans were put at the disposal of the foreign media along with 300 microphones. Radio broadcasts at the Olympics were given in 28 different languages.

A director of NBC in America congratulated the Nazis for this service – a personal triumph for Joseph Goebbels as he was in charge of this aspect of the Olympics. Siegfried Eifrig helped to carry the torch that lit the flame at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. To the Nazi regime he personified the Aryan race – tall, blond, blue-eyed and athletic. At the age of 26, Eifrig took the torch at the beginning of Unter den Linden – Berlin’s main boulevard – before handing it over so that others could carry it to the Olympic stadium. Though he was a talented sprinter, Eifrig did not get into the German Olympic squad. But he ran with distinction for the Charlottenburg Athletic Club and as a result was given the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch into the stadium. “It was an enormous honour to carry the torch, of course it was. I wasn’t so much nervous as really concentrating. I had to make sure nothing went wrong. There were so many people there. People said there were 300,000 people watching me on my stretch.” Eifrig fought in North Africa and ended the war in a British POW camp.

“The Americans should be ashamed of themselves, letting Negroes win their medals for them. I shall not shake hands with this Negro…….do you really think that I will allow myself to be photographed shaking hands with a Negro?” Gold medal won by Jesse Owens at 1936 Olympics up for sale | Fox News Gold medal won by Jesse Owens at 1936 Olympics up for sale Published December 02, 2013 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Email Print December 2, 2013: This handout provided by SCP Auctions, Inc., shows the front, left, and back, right, of one of Jesse Owens' four gold medals won at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. SCP Auctions says the medal could go for more than $1 million when the auction opens. (AP Photo/SCP Auctions, Inc.) LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. – Amid the jerseys and baseball bats held in a secure room at SCP Auctions, there's a piece of sports memorabilia that speaks to much more than athletic prowess: an Olympic medal won by track star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Games in Berlin.

The medal -- being auctioned online -- recalls both the Nazi propaganda myths that Owens busted with his world record-setting 100-yard dash, and the American segregation that he came home to when he returned to the U.S. after the Games, which Adolf Hitler orchestrated to showcase his ideas of Aryan supremacism. "Almost singlehandedly, Owens obliterated Hitler's plans," SCP Auctions partner Dan Imler said. "You've got an African American, son of a sharecropper, grandson of slaves who overcame these incredible circumstances and delivered a performance for the ages." Owens won gold in the 100- and 200-meters, the 400 relay and the long jump. But when he returned from the Berlin Games, he struggled to provide for his family. His job options were limited by segregation and because he decided to return home instead of going on tour with the U.S. Olympic Team, he was stripped of his amateur athletic status. "When they came back, the U.S. was just as it was when he left -- segregated.

Even though he came back an Olympic hero, he wasn't offered opportunities that Olympic heros of today are offered," said his daughter, Marlene Owens Rankin, 74, of Chicago. "We lived well, a middle class life. We didn't want for much. But like many black men of that era, he struggled to provide for his family." Owens gave one of his four Olympic gold medals to dancer and movie star Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, another supremely talented African-American whose career was hemmed in by limited roles for black men, Imler said. Robinson befriended Owens after the athlete return from the Olympics. "They formed a friendship and also a professional relationship. Bojangles helped Owens get work in the entertainment field," Imler said. "Owens gave him this medal out of gratitude and as a token of their friendship." Owens worked for a short time as a band leader but eventually returned to his hometown of Cleveland where he worked for the parks department and eventually found his way into public speaking, his daughter said. "The black community revered him for what he had accomplished," she said.

"Had it been an even playing field, my father and Bojangles would have been super-stars." The medal comes from the estate of Robinson's widow. The Robinson family declined to comment but Imler said they plan to use the proceeds to pay college tuition and contribute to charity. SCP Auctions confirmed that the medal is genuine. The whereabouts of the other three original gold medals is unknown. "We just hope that it's purchased by an institution where the public could have access to it, a museum or something like that," his daughter said. The auction closes on Dec. 7. Advertisement Memorable Olympic Moments: Jesse Owens, 1936 Encyclopedia: Track & Field It was the summer of 1936 and Nazism was running rampant throughout pre- World War II Eastern Europe. The Olympics were coming to Berlin and Adolf Hitler viewed it as a golden opportunity to showcase his country and prove to the rest of the world that his Aryan race was superior. Not so fast, Adolf. Twenty-two-year-old American Jesse Owens didn't care much for Hitler's politics—or any politics for that matter. He just wanted to show off his immense skills and represent his country to the best of his abilities.

Just over a year earlier, on May 25, 1935, Owens recorded one of the more mind-boggling performances in track and field history. He broke three world records and tied another at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Michigan—in just 45 minutes! Hitler viewed African-Americans as inferior and chastised the United States for stooping to use these "non-humans." Despite the endless racial epithets and the constant presence of the red and black swastika, Owens made Hitler eat his words with four gold medals. Owens Hits Gold The first gold was in the 100 meters, where Owens edged out teammate Ralph Metcalfe in a time of 10.3 seconds. Gold number two came in the long jump, where he fouled on his first two attempts. One was just a practice run where he continued down the runway into the pit, but German officials didn't buy it and counted it as a jump. Top German long jumper Luz Long suggested Owens play it safe and jump a few inches before the usual take-off spot. He took his advice and qualified for the finals, where he won the gold with a leap of 26—5½.

And Long was there to congratulate him. "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler," Owens would later say. "You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment." The third gold was in the 200-meter dash, where he defeated, among others, Jackie Robinson's older brother Mack and broke the Olympic record with a time of 20.7 seconds. Gold number four was a controversial one—not with the Germans, but with his fellow Americans. American Jews Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were supposed to run for the United States on the 4x100 relay team. At the last minute, they were replaced by Owens and Metcalfe and it was reported that Hitler asked U.S. officials not to embarrass him any further by having two Jews win gold in Berlin. Whether that's true or not, the Owens-led U.S. team rolled to victory in a world record time of 39.8 seconds and Owens' magical Olympics came to a close. While German officials denounced Owens, an overwhelming majority of the German fans treated him like a hero.

In 1984, a street in Berlin was named in his honor. More from 2012 Summer Olympics Did you know? Jesse Owens – Star of the 1936 Berlin Olympics | HowTheyPlay Jesse Owens – Star of the 1936 Berlin Olympics Jesse Owens – Star of the 1936 Berlin Olympics Updated on June 15, 2016 Joined: 2 years agoFollowers: 88Articles: 68 Jesse Owens Introduction There are many successful Olympic athletes in the history of sport, but few transcended their sport in the same manner as Jesse Owens. After dealing with a childhood of brutal poverty, Owens found success on the track field in high school, college and eventually the Olympic Games. His gold medals at the Berlin Olympic Games made him a hero to millions of African-Americans. While he did not find much competitive success after those Olympic Games, Owens remained a sought-after speaker. Jesse Owens, born on the 12th of September, 1913, was a four-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the most celebrated track and field athletes from the United States.

His specialties were the long jump and sprinting events, with his Olympic gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics coming in four events: long jump, 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4 x 100 meter relay race. Those wins propelled him into becoming the most successful athlete at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens’ popularity is longstanding, with ESPN honoring him through their “Jesse Owens Award,” given out to the best track and field athlete of the year. ESPN also ranked Jesse Owens as the sixth best North American athlete of the 20th century. In 1983 he received a posthumous induction into the United States Olympic Committee’s Hall of Fame. Owens success at track and field traces back to his college days at The Ohio State University.

His domination at the 1935 Big Ten track and field meet in Michigan saw him set three world records and tie another in “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport.” Advertisement {"lat":34.445324,"lng":-87.161324,"zoom":10,"mapType":"ROADMAP","markers":[]} Early Years Born as James Cleveland Owens in Oakville, Alabama, Jesse Owens was the son of Henry Cleveland Owens, a sharecropper, and Mary Emma Alexander Owens, and the grandson of slaves. Some may find it hard to believe, but Owens was a frail young boy who struggled with several illnesses over the years. He went through periods of chronic bronchial congestion and pneumonia before his teen years. Despite being sickly, Owens had to work in the fields with the rest of his family, and he often spent hours picking up cotton from the fields. When he was only five years old, Owens had a large fibrous bump on his chest. It pressed against his lungs, but his family could not afford a doctor at the time. Instead, his mother used a kitchen knife to carve open his chest and remove the gold-ball like growth.

He lost a lot of blood during the procedure, but survived. The Owens family often struggled to make ends meet in the rural south. After one of their daughters moved to Cleveland during the First World War, Mary Owens urged her husband to move to the North, which promised higher wages, better work and less hostility towards African-Americans. Owens had six brothers and three sisters growing up. His family was part of the “Great Migration” of the early 1920s – an event that saw more than a million African-Americans leave the segregated Southern states. Jesse Owens’ father and three older brothers worked at a local steel mill in Cleveland, with the family living in a modest apartment in the east-side with other economically disadvantaged families. Owens picked up a new name when in Cleveland. Given his difficult-to-understand Southern accent, whenever he said “J.C.” his teachers thought he meant “Jesse”. From that moment onward, James Cleveland Owens became Jesse Owens. One of his first jobs involved delivering groceries and loading freight cars. He even helped out at a local shoe repair shop. His various part-time jobs helped Owens realize that his true passion involved running.

Even in his later years, Owens always credited most of his success to his track and field coach in junior high, Charles Riley. Having to work at the shoe repair shop, Owens was unable to make the team’s usual track practices. Instead of cutting him from the team, Riley allowed Owens to practice early in the morning. Riley knew immediately that Owens was a track athlete with tremendous potential. Despite not having any serious training, Owens was remarkably quick. Riley started Owens on a rigorous program and the results were immediate. Owens ran the 100-yard dash in eleven seconds by 1928 and he set two world records, for his age group, in the high jump (six feet) and long jump (22 feet). Riley famously told Owens to “run as if the track is on fire.” The two had a great relationship that extended beyond the sport. With Owens’ father going through tough times in the early 1930s, Riley served as a surrogate father towards him. In addition to his love of track and field, Owens met the love of his life in junior high. Jesse met Minnie Ruth Soloman at the age of 15.

They began dating on and off during high school and had a daughter in 1932. They eventually married in 1935 and had two more daughters in 1939 and 1940 respectively. While there were allegations of Jesse Owens’ infidelity over the years, with some reports even claiming he had an illegitimate child, their relationship never wavered. The two remained together until Owens passed away in 1980. Ruth Soloman Owens passed away in 2001. Advertisement Jesse Owens and wife Minnie Owens Rising Star in High School Jesse Owens first came to the attention of a national track and field audience at the East Technical High School. He did not make the national team while trying out for the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, but he achieved stardom for his performance at the 1933 National Interscholastic Championships in Chicago. He match the world record in the 100 yard dash (9.4 seconds). He also managed to long jump 9.5 inches at the same event, along with winning the 220-yard dash event. A parade awaited him when he returned to Cleveland following the event.

His high school career saw him compete in 79 races. He won 75 of those events. Despite Owens failing to complete the required courses to earn a high school diploma, more than 12 colleges attempted to recruit him for their programs. But he was reluctant to leave his family who needed his financial support to stay afloat. However, a school helped find better employment for his father, and Owens went to college knowing his family was no longer struggling. He enrolled at The Ohio State University where he went from strength to strength. That is not to say Owens did not experience difficulty during those years. He worked three jobs just to afford his tuition and experienced a great deal of racism at Ohio State. Owens worked as a waiter, gas pumper, a night elevator operator and at the library stacks. He even spent some time working as a page for the Ohio Statehouse. Owens never forgot to send money back to his family and his girlfriend. He still managed to find time for his studies and, of course, his daily track practices. Owens did not let financial or personal struggles impact his goals. The racism of others only made his determination to succeed even greater.

At times he struggled with his academics, with the school putting him on academic probation. He eventually left Ohio State in 1941 without a degree. Owens overall college record saw him win eight individual NCAA Championships, four in 1935 and four in 1936. His record of four gold medals stood until 2006, when Xavier Carter equaled it. Despite his brilliant track and field career, Owens was not always welcomed by the Ohio State student body. He lived off campus with other African-Americans and had to stay at “black-only” hotels and eat at “black-only” restaurants when the team traveled for away games or national meets. In all his years at Ohio State, he barely received any scholarship money. His best college year came in 1935, when he won four NCAA Championship events, two AAU Championship events and three Olympic trials. His overall record in 1935 was a perfect 42 wins in 42 events. The broad jump record he set that day (26 feet and 8.25 inches) stood for 25 years. Owens served as the first African-American captain of any Ohio State varsity sports team.

His teammates affectionately called him the “Buckeye Bullet.” He was also a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. To this day, college athletics fans remember his brilliance at the 1935 Big Ten meet at Michigan, Ann Arbor. In a 45-minute time span, he tied the 100 yard dash record, set the long jump, 220-yard sprint and 220-yard low hurdles records. His college coach thought he was such a complete athlete that he sometimes “seems to float over the ground when he runs.” When asked to pick the greatest athletic achievement of the past 150 years in 2006, the University of Central Florida’s professor of sports history, Richard Crepeau, chose Jesse Owens at the 1935 Big Ten meet. Ohio State’s current track and field stadium is named the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Advertisement Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games 1936 Berlin Olypmics Jesse Owens continued his sensational college form onto a worldwide stage at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany.

On August 3rd, Owens won the 100 meter sprint in 10.3 seconds, beating his teammate Ralph Metcalfe and Tinus Osendarp of the Netherlands. He finished one-tenth and two-tenths ahead of them, respectively. A day later, his long jump of 26 feet and five inches took home another gold medal. He credits Luz Long, his German rival, for offering him advice that led to the win. His time of 20.7 seconds was good enough to win the 200 meter sprint event, while he also took home gold at the 4 x 100 meter sprint relay. Owens and his three teammates set a world record of 39.8 seconds. Owens’ long jump record of 26 feet and eight inches was set a year before these games. This record stood for 25 years, with Ralph Boston beating it at the 1960 Summer Olympics, where Jesse Owens was a proud spectator. Owens was the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals at the same Olympic Games. This record stood until the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, when Carl Lewis matched it.

The record has since been beaten a few times, but Owens is still remembered as one of the country’s greatest ever track and field athletes. He was a great competitor, but Owens was also a very good sport. During the 1936 long jump final, Owens took time out of his preparations to massage the leg of his German rival Long. Owens said he could never forget the friendship shown to him by Lang. “It took a lot of courage for him [Lang] to befriend me with Hitler watching. You can melt down all the medals I have and they wouldn’t compare to the 24-karat friendship I felt with him [Lang] in that moment. It was sad that I never saw him again. He died in World War II.” Advertisement 1936 Olympic Games Olympic Controversies The 1936 Olympic Games were a seminal moment not only for Jesse Owens but for African-American athletes in general. He games were held in Berlin, with Adolf Hitler at the height of his power at the time. Hilter promoted these games as a world-wide event that would solidify his theory of Aryan supremacy.

The German government believed their athletes would dominate the games, with their propaganda constantly promoting athletes of African descent as inferior to Aryans. The German leader was furious when he learned that the United States planned to include black athletes in their Olympic roster. When the first day of the Games arrived, Hitler only shook hands with the German winners and ignored the participants from other countries. The Olympic Committee did not approve, and they told him to either skip the ceremonies or shake hands with every winner. Hitler chose to skip every other medal presentation. It is famously stated that he walked out of the Olympic stadium when Owens won the gold medal at the 100-meter dash event. However, some historians believe Hitler later congratulated Owens on his victories. For his part, Owens commented that “I was on my way to a broadcast after winning and I passed his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I believe it was bad taste to criticize ‘the man of the hour’ in Germany.” Eric Brown, a British fighter pilot, claimed he witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Owens. Even the great performances of Owens and other African-American athletes did not change Hitler’s perception of them.

He was “annoyed by their serious of triumphs” and believe their physiques were “stronger than those of civilized whites and they should not compete in future Olympic Games.” Owens and the rest of the United States team arrived in Berlin in 1936. His teammates would never forget the fanfare associated with Owens’ arrival. According to James LuValle, another American medal winner, many young women came to greet the team and continuously chanted “wo ist Jesse,” which means “where is Jesse.” He even had to travel outside the athletics village with a military escort to ensure fans did not get too close. A few days before the competition started, Jesse Owens met with Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, one of the most famous athletics companies in the world. Dassler urged Owens to accept a sponsorship from his company, which was the first for a male African-American athlete. Owens wore Adidas’ Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik shoes during the games. Ironically it was the African-American athletes who took center stage for the United States at those Olympics. The country won 11 gold medals in 1936, with six of them earned by black athletes.

Owens was the stand out athlete by a country mile, winning four golds and breaking two Olympic golds for good measure. While at the Games, Jesse Owens was permitted to stay in the same hotels as his white teammates. This was not the case in the United States at the time. In fact, Owens had to ride a freight elevator at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel to attend a reception in his honor, because African-Americans were not allowed on the regular elevator. The racism and seclusion policies of Hitler’s Germany were a widespread topic throughout the 1936 Olympic Games. However, Owens was hardly a national celebrity when he came back to the United States following his wins. The President at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt , did not meet with Owens to congratulate him, even though it was a long-standing tradition for Presidents to do so. In fact, it took forty years before Owens received the appropriate recognition from President Gerald Ford. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. For his part, Owens remained unperturbed by the hypocrisy of the United States.

“When I came back to my country [the United States], even after all the stories about [Adolf] Hitler, I was not allowed to ride at the front of the bus,” he noted. “I was asked to go through the back door. I could not even live where I wanted. Hitler may not have invited me to shake hands with him, but neither did the President [of the United States].” After the Olympics, the current Republican presidential nominee Alf Landon asked Owens to help him win over African-American voters. At two separate rallies, Owens noted that “Hitler did not snub me. It was the President [of the United States] who was too busy to send me a message of congratulations or even a telegram.” Advertisement Life After the Olympics Owens was always a champion of the people. He never stopped working with youths and was happy to use his stardom and modest wealth to help those without the means to help themselves. With Owens living in a time when lucrative post-Olympic sponsorships were not the norm, he found various jobs to support his family. One of his jobs involved participating in stunt races against dogs or horses during the half-time intermission of local soccer and baseball games.

Owens began the races 40 yards ahead of his competition and raced to the 100-yard line. He usually won the events, but people felt it was degrading for an Olympic athlete to compete in such silliness. Owens fired back, saying “it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against an animal, but what was I to do? I had four gold medals, but you cannot eat those medals.” He also served as a running coach for the New York Mets in 1965. However, his time there was unsuccessful, with the team only stealing 28 bases that year. They finished in last place. Owens favorite job involved working as playground director in Cleveland. It was the first time he got to work with the city’s underprivileged youth. When he moved to Chicago, he continued this work and served as a board member of the Chicago Boys’ Club. Public speaking was another one of Jesse Owens’ passions. He addressed youth groups, professional companies and organizations, civic meetings, banquets, parent-teacher-associations, and black history groups. He also attended and spoke at a number of high school and college commencement ceremonies.

Owens also spent time as a PR representative for Ford and the United States Olympic Committee. Aside from the award given to him by President Ford in 1976, he visited the White House in 1979 to meet with President Carter and accept the Living Legend Award. President Carter had this to say on Jesse Owens: “This is a young man who didn’t even realize the nature of his own capabilities. He went to the Olympics and performed in a way that is unmatched since. Since those games, he has continued in his own modest way to inspire others to reach for greatness.” Owens passed away in March 1980 in Tucson, Arizona. He suffered complications from lung cancer. The whole world paid tribute to this remarkable athlete and person, with President Carter saying, “Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry.” After his death, his three daughters continued Jesse’s work through the Jesse Owens Foundation. They offer financial assistance and other services to young people with untapped potential.

Jesse Owens's Inspiring History play At the Berlin 1936 Olympics, Hitler planned to show the world that the Aryan people were the dominant race, Jesse Owens proved him wrong and sealed his place in Olympic history by becoming the most successful athlete of the 1936 Games. Owens also became the first american to win four track and field gold medals at a single Olympics (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump), a record that stood unbroken for 48 years. Jesse Owens (USA) - Athletics - Berlin 1936 100m, Athletics, Berlin 1936, long jump, OWENS, Jesse, United States of America, Men, Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at 1936 Summer Olympics | World History Project Aug 3 1936 to Aug 9 1936 Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at 1936 Summer Olympics In 1936, Owens arrived in Berlin to compete for the United States in the Summer Olympics. Adolf Hitler was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany.

He and other government officials had high hopes German athletes would dominate the games with victories (the German athletes achieved a top of the table medal haul). Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of "Aryan racial superiority" and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior. Owens surprised many and showed the fallacies of racial supremacy by winning four gold medals: On August 3, 1936 he won the 100m sprint, defeating Ralph Metcalfe; on August 4, the long jump (later crediting friendly and helpful advice from Luz Long, the German competitor he ultimately defeated); on August 5, the 200m sprint; and, after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, his fourth on August 9 (a performance not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the 1984 Summer Olympics). Just before the competitions Owens was visited in the Olympic village by Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas. He persuaded Owens to use Adidas shoes and it was the first sponsorship for a male African-American athlete.

The long jump victory is documented, along with many other 1936 events, in the 1938 film Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl. On the first day, Hitler shook hands only with the German victors and then left the stadium. Olympic committee officials then insisted Hitler greet each and every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations. On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens recounted: "When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany."" He also stated: "Hitler didn't snub me—it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram." Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor bestowed any honors by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or Harry S. Truman during their terms. In 1955, President Dwight D.

Eisenhower acknowledged Owens's accomplishments, naming him an "Ambassador of Sports." Hitler's contempt for Owens and for those races he deemed 'inferior' arose in private, away from maintaining Olympic neutrality. As Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and later war armaments minister recollected in his memoirs Inside the Third Reich: "Each of the German victories and there were a surprising number of these made him happy, but he was highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous colored American runner, Jesse Owens. People whose antecedents came from the jungle were primitive, Hitler said with a shrug; their physiques were stronger than those of civilized whites and hence should be excluded from future games. Despite Hitler's feelings, Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that blacks in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend his own reception at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Source: Wikipedia Added by: Kevin Rogers It was the summer of 1936 and Nazism was running rampant throughout pre-World War II Eastern Europe. The Olympics were coming to Berlin and Adolf Hitler viewed it as a golden opportunity to showcase his country and prove to the rest of the world that his Aryan race was superior. Not so fast, Adolf. Twenty-two-year-old American Jesse Owens didn't care much for Hitler's politics—or any politics for that matter. He just wanted to show off his immense skills and represent his country to the best of his abilities. Just over a year earlier, on May 25, 1935, Owens recorded one of the more mind-boggling performances in track and field history. He broke three world records and tied another at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Michigan—in just 45 minutes! Hitler viewed African-Americans as inferior and chastised the United States for stooping to use these "non-humans." Despite the endless racial epithets and the constant presence of the red and black swastika, Owens made Hitler eat his words with four gold medals.

Owens Hits Gold The first gold was in the 100 meters, where Owens edged out teammate Ralph Metcalfe in a time of 10.3 seconds. Gold number two came in the long jump, where he fouled on his first two attempts. One was just a practice run where he continued down the runway into the pit, but German officials didn't buy it and counted it as a jump. Top German long jumper Luz Long suggested Owens play it safe and jump a few inches before the usual take-off spot. He took his advice and qualified for the finals, where he won the gold with a leap of 26—5½. And Long was there to congratulate him. "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler," Owens would later say. "You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment." The third gold was in the 200-meter dash, where he defeated, among others, Jackie Robinson's older brother Mack and broke the Olympic record with a time of 20.7 seconds.

Gold number four was a controversial one—not with the Germans, but with his fellow Americans. American Jews Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were supposed to run for the United States on the 4x100 relay team. At the last minute, they were replaced by Owens and Metcalfe and it was reported that Hitler asked U.S. officials not to embarrass him any further by having two Jews win gold in Berlin. Whether that's true or not, the Owens-led U.S. team rolled to victory in a world record time of 39.8 seconds and Owens' magical Olympics came to a close. While German officials denounced Owens, an overwhelming majority of the German fans treated him like a hero. In 1984, a street in Berlin was named in his honor. Source: Mike Morrison Added by: Kevin Rogers The Berlin Olympics of 1936 were held in Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, and Hitler's Nazi Party used the event as a soapbox to promulgate the theory of "Aryan" racial superiority. Hitler was spectacularly shown up by Jesse Owens and other African American athletes, members of a so-called "inferior" race.

Despite the hostile atmosphere, Owens triumphed in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the broad jump. He replaced a Jewish-American member of the 400-meter relay team that went on to win the Gold Medal. In three of his events, Owens -- who became the first American in the history of track and field to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, a feat not duplicated until 1984, when Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the Warsaw Pact nations-free 1984 Summer Olympics) -- established Olympic records. Although Hitler did not shake his hand, by the end of the games, the German fans cheered for him. In fact, in his 1970 autobiography "The Jesse Owens Story", Owens claimed that the Fuhrer himself waved to him. The 1936 Berlin Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, were held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the games, with the International Olympic Committee choosing Berlin over Barcelona in April, 1931.

Although the bid was won before the Nazi Party gained power in Germany, some leaders in the government saw the Olympics as an opportunity to promote their Nazi ideology. Hitler was convinced by Josef Gï¿½bbels to allow the games to take place in Germany. Preparation for the games started in the early 1930s. Hitler used the Olympics as a tool for propaganda. Film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, a favorite of Hitler, was commissioned by the International Olympic Committee to film the Games. The film, titled "Olympia", originated many of the techniques now commonplace to the filming of sports. By allowing only members of the "Aryan race" to compete for Germany, Hitler further promoted his ideological belief of racial supremacy. Although Germany won most of the medals in the Olympics, other athletes, such as African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals, showed great athleticism through performance. Hitler removed signs stating "Jews not wanted" and similar slogans from the main tourist attractions. Hitler desired to clean up Berlin, the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of Berlin Police to arrest all gypsies and keep them in a special camp.

Nazi officials ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal strictures of anti-homosexual laws. Total ticket revenues were 7.5 million Reichsmarks, with a profit of over 1 million marks. The official budget did not include outlays by the city of Berlin (which issued an itemized report detailing its costs of 16.5 million marks) or the German National Government (which did not make its costs public, but is estimated to have spent US$30 million in mostly capital outlays) Dispute over boycott of the Olympics in the U.S During the 1936 summer Olympics, there were many different views on whether the games should be allowed or discontinued. The people who voiced their opinions on the debate included Americans Avery Brundage, Ernest Lee Jahncke, and Judge Jeremiah Mahoney. The United States considered boycotting the Olympic games, since participating in the festivity might be considered as support for the Nazi Germany regime and its anti-Semitic policies. However, others argued that the Olympic Games should not be a reflection of political views but strictly a contest of the greatest athletes.

Avery Brundage, President of the American Olympic Committee was against the boycott, stating that the Jewish athletes were being treated fairly and that the games should continue. Brundage believed that politics played no role in sports, and they should be considered two different entities during the controversial Olympics. He explained stating, ï¿½The very foundation of the modern Olympic revival will be undermined if individual countries are allowed to restrict participation by reason of class, creed, or race.ï¿½ Brundage also believed that there was a ï¿½Jewish-Communist conspiracyï¿½ that existed to keep the United States out of competing in the Olympic games. Unlike Brundage, Jeremiah Mahoney was against the Olympics and supported a boycott against the games. Mahoney, president of the Amateur Athletic Union, led newspaper editors and anti-Nazi groups to protest against an American team participating in the Berlin Olympics. Mahoney contested that discrimination went against Olympic rules and participation showed support for Hitlerï¿½s Reich. African Americans and Jewish Americans also expressed their opinions for or against American participation. Most African American newspapers supported the Olympics. "The Philadelphia Tribune" and "The Chicago Defender" both agreed that Black victories would undermine Nazi views of Aryan supremacy.

They believed it would spark more Black pride at home. American Jewish organizations opposed the Olympics. The American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labor Committee staged rallies and supported the boycott of German goods to show their disdain for American participation. Eventually, Avery Brundage won the debate, manipulating the Amateur Athletic Union to close a vote in favor of sending an American team to the Berlin Olympics, winning by only two and a half votes. Mahoneyï¿½s efforts to incite a boycott of the Olympic games in America failed. President Roosevelt demanded the participation of the United States in the Olympics, intending to keep the tradition of America being void of outside influence intact. The 1936 summer Olympics had the largest representation of nations participating than any other previous Olympics. These nations included the United States which, despite the debate, decided to send an Olympic team to Berlin, although some American competitors (including Milton Green and Norman Canners, both Jewish athletes) decided to abstain from participating and boycotted the Olympic games.

Hitler Opens the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 New York Herald Tribune, European Edition 2 August 1936 BERLIN ï¿½ In a riot of color and music and ceremonial splendor that could not be dimmed by leaden skies and occasional showers, the sixteen-day period of the Berlin Olympic Games, celebrating the eleventh Olympiad of modern times, was inaugurated today under the patronage of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, leader of the German people, with royalty and nobility and diplomats and commoners and athletes of fifty nations participating in a Germanized festival that overshadowed the sports pageant itself. Into the Olympic Stadium, jammed with a crowd estimated at 110,000, the 5,000 athletes and their leaders of fifty nations, garbed in dress uniforms of many colors, marched behind their national flags.

The signal of Hitlerï¿½s appearance through the wide Marathon Gate and his descent from the broad concrete stairway to the field, flanked on his right by Comte de Baillet-Latour, the International Olympic Committee president, and on his left by Theodore Lewald, the German Olympic president, with a party of 100 including the black-uniformed SS bodyguard of Der Fï¿½hrer trailing, touched off an explosive roar of three Heils to the leader. Homage to Hitler all through the ceremony stood out boldly against the setting of the Olympic opening ritual. Hitlerï¿½s arrival, signalled by a trumpet solo from the huge towers that form the Marathon gateway to the stadium was taken up by a hundred-piece symphony orchestra, which burst into ï¿½Deutschland ï¿½ber Allesï¿½ï¿½ and the ï¿½Horst Wessel Lied,ï¿½ anthems of the country, as the entire crowd sang the refrains.

With Richard Strauss conducting the orchestra and a chorus of 2,000 men and women in the Olympic hymn he composed for this occasion, a runner in track uniform bearing the lighted torch aloft suddenly appeared at the West Gate, raced down the concrete, loped down the cinder path and up again to the West Gate, where a simple metal basin stands. France perhaps stole the cheers of the day, for the French, in blue coats, white flannels and blue berets, nearly 250 strong, did something that none had expected from them. The flag bearer dipped the Tricolor to Hitler, and the entire French section raised their outstretched arms in the Nazi salute. For one moment there was silence as the French marched past the reviewing stand; the next moment the two-tiered stand rocked with an ovation that continued in rippling volume all around the track as the French proceeded to their places on the field. There was mild applause when the American team appeared through the Marathon Gate, but nothing to compare with the ovations to Bulgaria, France and later, Austria. As the Americans were marching past Hitler, the German array appeared on their heels, and the Americans were promptly and completely ignored.

Home Page The story most repeated about Hitler and the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, which were unquestionably put on as a political showcase for Nazi Germany, is that Hitler refused to shake the hand of the American Black athlete Jesse Owens after the latter had won a race. This myth is extremely widespread: the "Encarta Encyclopedia", issued by Microsoft (1998 edition) states the following in its entry under Jesse Owens: "Owens, Jesse (1913-80), one of the greatest track-and-field athletes of all time . . . A member of the U.S. track team in the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Berlin, Owens won four gold medals. He won the 100-m dash in 10.3 sec, equaling the Olympic record; set a new Olympic and world record of 20.7 sec in the 200-m dash; and won the running broad jump with a leap of 26 ft 5I in., setting a new Olympic record. He was also a member of the U.S. 400-m relay team that year, which set a new Olympic and world record of 39.8 sec.

Despite Owens' outstanding athletic performance, German leader Adolf Hitler refused to acknowledge his Olympic victories because Owens was black. Owens went on to play an active role in youth athletic programs and later established his own public relations firm. His autobiography, 'The Jesse Owens Story', was published in 1970". -- Microsoft Encarta, 98 Encyclopedia. 1997 Microsoft Corporation. The reality was in fact substantially different: what happened was that Hitler personally attended the first day of the track and field competition on 2 August 1936, and did personally congratulate the German athlete Hans Wï¿½llke, who became the first German to win a gold medal in the Olympics since 1896. Throughout the rest of the day, Hitler continued to receive Olympic champions, German and non German, in his VIP box. The next day, 3 August, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee, Comte Baillet-Latour, approached Hitler early in the morning and told the German leader that he had violated Olympic protocol by having winners paraded to his box. Hitler apologized and gave an undertaking that he would from then on refrain from publicly congratulating any winners, German or otherwise.

During this day, Owens won his gold medals - and in line with the Olympic Committee's ruling, Hitler did not shake his hand, or anybody else's for that matter, at the games again. It is therefore utterly false to claim that Hitler deliberately chose to ignore Owens. In fact, in the very autobiography that the "Encarta Encyclopedia" extract above refers to, "The Jesse Owens Story", Owens himself recounted how Hitler had stood up and waved to him: "When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany". ~ Jesse Owens, "The Jesse Owens Story", 1970. Another common story about the 1936 Olympic games is that Owens' victory "disproved the Nazi master race theory" - in fact the Olympic games as a whole were won by the German team with 89 medals, compared to the 56 medals won by the second placed USA team. Hitler was pleased with the outcome. In what was to become an act of extreme irony, the American president of the time, Franklin D.

Roosevelt, then involved in an election and concerned about the reaction in the USA's southern states, refused to see Owens at the White House: Owens was later to remark that it was Roosevelt, not Hitler, who snubbed him. This is a good example of one of the more outstanding distortions which have sprung up around Nazi Germany, all as a result of a political agenda linked to Nazi Anti-Jewishness. It is also true that it is the victors' prerogative to write the historical account of events: this too has served to cloud the issue of the Third Reich and to make it into the political hot potato that it remains over fifty years after it vanished. All Americans (at least) have heard it. In the Berlin Olympics of 2 - 16 August 1936, Adolf Hitler refused to shake hands with an American runner named Jesse Owens, who was what we now call African-American in politically correct parlance, making headlines around the world, as Hitler's racial policies towards non-Aryans were quite well-known. First, to clear up the story of Jesse Owen's name.

His real name was James Cleveland Owens, which when he drawled (he was from the dirt-poor South) to a Northern schoolteacher, "J.C" turned into Jesse. The Berlin Olympics of 1936 took place in an atmosphere where sport and international politics were no longer separate, despite the ostensible purpose of the Olympics: ... a backdrop of momentous world events. Just a year earlier Benito Mussolini had announced the annexation of Ethiopia ... in the early spring of of 1936 Hitler's army moved into the previously demilitarized Rhineland... Further: ... In the wake of the furious debate over the participation of athletes from Western democratic nations in Nazi Germany, an alternate games -- "the People's Olympics" -- were planned for July 19 -- 26 in Barcelona, Spain. ... On the very morning of the opening ceremonies, reactionary forces led by General Francisco Franco plunged Spain into a civil war. Born of political idealism, the People's Olympics were the victim of a political crisis. The "Baltimore Afro-American" (8 August 1936) and other newspapers spread the story that Hitler refused to shake Jesse Owens's hand or congratulate other Black medalists.

In fact, during the very first day of Olympic competition, when Owens did not compete, Olympic protocol officers implored Hitler to receive either all the medal winners or none, and Hitler chose the latter. Whether he did this to avoid shaking hands with "non-Aryans" is unclear. Privately, Minister of Propaganda Gï¿½bbels called the victories by Blacks "a disgrace." Ignoring censors' orders to avoid offending foreign guests with racist commentaries, the radical Nazi newspaper "Der Angriff" (The Attack) wrote on August 6: "If the American team had not brought along Black auxiliaries ... one would have regarded the Yankees as the biggest disappointment of the Games." The Berlin Olympics reeked of politics -- of Hitler's designs and calculations, of the hopes and fears of the German people, and of the anti-Nazi bloc throughout the Western world. Little wonder that the first day of athletic competition produced a controversial episode that within the week would turn into a most memorable as politically useful myth: Hitler's legendary "snub" of Jesse Owens. In truth, the yarn was a fabrication that originally had nothing whatsoever to do with Owens.

On the first afternoon of the games, Hitler excitedly watched two German athletes, Tilly Fleischer and Hans Wï¿½llke, win gold medals, and summoned them to his box for personal, public congratulations. Shortly thereafter, he did the same for a Finnish victor. Then late in the afternoon, as drops of rain began to fall from a darkened sky, Cornelius Johnson barely beat his teammate, David Albritton, for the gold in the high jump. Just before the playing of the American national anthem announced the awarding of Johnson's medal, Hitler and his entourage left the stadium. (there are other accounts that Hitler "stormed out" of the stadium in a tantrum) Did they make the hasty exit so Hitler would not have to shake hands with the black Johnson? Maybe they did. A Nazi spokesman explained that Hitler's party always entered and left the stadium on an exact prearranged schedule, but it is difficult to imagine Der Fï¿½hrer publicly congratulating a black man, whom he considered only slightly less odious than a Jew. But if he snubbed any black American athlete, it was Cornelius Johnson rather than Jesse Owens.

Not until the next day did Owens win his first gold medal. By then the president of the International Olympic Committee, Henri de Baillet-Latour of Belgium, had gotten word to Hitler that as the head of the host government he must be impartial in his accolades -- congratulating all or none of the victors. Hitler stopped inviting winners to his box. He was much to sensitive to world opinion to leave himself open to negative publicity. But Hitler had not banked on the ingenuity of the American press. "Hitler greets all medalists except Americans," the front page of the "New York Times" announced the day after the first competitive events; "Hitler ignores Negro medalists," ran the headlines the next day. Not by coincidence, the "New York Times" had earlier led the movement to boycott the Berlin Games. Still, after those initial barrages, the "Times" largely ceased mentioning the "snub" story. Other newspapers picked it up with a new twist. "HITLER SNUBS JESSE," read the huge, bold headlines of a black Cleveland paper, "Call and Post", the day after Owens had won his first medal.

Ignorant of Baillet-Latour's instructions and confident of its ability to read Hitler's motives, the American press shifted the focus away from Cornelius Johnson and to Jesse Owens. Every new medal won by Owens enhanced his appeal as the target of Hitler's supoosed insult. Yet Jesse denied it to interviewers at Berlin and to reporters on his return home. He would soon find, however, that the constant denial was too much bother and that to claim the "snub" for his own would work to his advantage. "And then," as Bob Greenspan says simply, "Jesse kept on using the story." Especially in his postwar public addresses, newspaper articles, and ghosted books, he would make much of Hitler's refusal to shake his hand, and his "leaving the stadium in a tantrum." Of Jesse's experience in Berlin: "German spectators gave him the warmest ovation of his life. Just before he entered the stadium, Larry Snyder (his coach) warned him to be ready for a hostile reception: "Don't let anything you hear from the stands upset you. Ignore the results and you'll be alright." Little did Snyder know that German admiration for athletic achievement transcended race prejudice.

From the moment that Owens first appeared on the track, curious German athletes and coachs milled around him. ... One German coach, seemed, to Snyder, intensely interested in Jesse's graceful legs, studying them "like a scientist studying a rare species of fauna". Then, after Jesse won his first heat, the entire stadium burst out in thunderous applause. From then on he received a loud ovation every time he walked out on the track". Owens was besieged by autograph seekers throughout his stay in Germany. He was cheered loudly every time he entered the stadium by the mostly German audience. Owens had been prepared for a hostile reception; a coach had warned him in advance not to be upset by anything that might happen in the stands. "Ignore the insults," Owens was told, "and you'll be all right." Later Owens recalled that he had gotten the greatest ovations of his career at Berlin. So much for the "Germans were unified in their hatred of non-Aryans" routine. We may safely conclude: F. Adolf Hitler refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics of 1936, intentionally snubbing him. T.

Hitler didn't shake hands with any athletes after the first day of competition, and Jesse didn't win anything until the second. Hitler did, however, snub another black American athlete, Cornelius Johnson. But the myths don't end here. Another myth is that a few African-American athletes ran off with all of the medals. Jesse did walk off with four gold medals, no mean achievement. However: In the unofficial point system devised by the American Olympic Committee (ten points for first place, and five, four, three, two and one for the next five finishes, the American male track and field team scored 203 points. Owens alone scored 40, almost two-thirds of the entire German teams total. Outside of track and field, however, the Germans dominated: 87 - 1 in gymnastics, 65 - 6 in equestrian events, 43 - 4 in canoeing, 34 - 9 in boxing, 28 - 10 in weightlifting, 27 - 0 in cycling, 20 - 2 in yachting, and 19 - 10 in fencing.

Only in wrestling and basketball did American athletes make a decent showing. When the president of the International Olympic Committee, Henri Baillet-Latour, finally proclaimed the closing of the Berlin games, both German and American scoring systems gave the Germans a decisive victory over the United States. The other European fascist power, Italy, finished a distant third in team point totals. In "Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History", by Richard Shenkman, there is an abbreviated account of the above, and Shenkman concludes with: "It is forgotten that Germany managed to pick up more medals that all of the other countries combined. Hitler was pleased with the outcome". Of some independent interest is the fact that after the Berlin games, the once peaceful Olympic village became an infantry training center. The largest restaurant and music hall were transformed into military hospitals. Foreign athletes who hung out as little as two days after the end of the Berlin games could hear the rattle of machine-gun fire from nearby training fields.

"The army had done its best to help make the Olympic show a success," an American reporter commented, "but it now is resuming its real job." A couple more well-known Jesse Owens stories: One concerns the story of Jesse Owens and Lutz Long. This story has some truth to it, which makes it dangerous, 'cuz most of it is false. To qualify for afternoon finals in the long jump, Jesse had to leap 23 feet 5 inches, something that he had bettered in his senior year in high school. In fact, Jesse was favored to win the gold. Notably, in a competition in Ann Arbor, he had leaped 26 feet, 8 1/4 inches, which was still a world record at the time. There are myths about the qualifying jumps. From the main text: "His own later accounts sadly misrepresent the facts. Tacitly playing on Hitler's snub, in 1960 Owens recounted that he was so upset by Hitler's master race theories that he angrily leaped "from several inches beyond the take-off board" on his first jump, then "fouled even worse" on his second try.

Later he claimed that Hitler had walked out on him just before he jumped, making him so "mad, hate-mad" that he lost his self-control. Both stories are less than credible. The athlete's utterances in 1936 contain nothing to indicate Hitler's "master race theories" were of concern to Jesse Owens at the time, and Hitler was not even in the stadium for the morning preliminaries. Even when Owens dropped Hitler from his account of his difficulties, he still got the facts wrong. In his favorite version of the event, he stepped across the front edge of the take-off board on his first attempt, then was so careful not to scratch on his second try that he made a mediocre leap, too short to qualify". In Arthur Daley's account of Jesse's qualifying attempts at the long jump from the "New York Times" we have: "Owens strolled over to the runway and, still in his pullover, raced to the pit and ran right through, a customary warm-up gesture. But the red flag was raised in a token greatly to the Buckeye Bullet's astonishment. That counted as one of his three jumps. "Apparently this practice run through the pit was only customary in the US".

Daley continues: "On his second try, which he made in earnest, Jesse hit the take-off board cleanly and sailed through the air. Again the red flag was raised. "Owens had stepped over the front edge of the take-off board. "One more 'scratch' would disqualify him, placing the world's greatest long-jumper on the sidelines for the afternoon finals. The American press reported widely on the friendship that developed between Owens and his German competitor in the long jump, Carl Ludwig ("Luz") Long. As Owens later told the story with various embellishments and varying degrees of consistency, his reveries of self-disgust were interrupted by a German competitor, Lutz Long, who came to his rescue with words of consolation and advice. An inch or two taller than Owens, Long was blond, lean, and blue-eyed, a walking advertisement for Hitler's Aryan ideal. According to Owens's reminiscences, Long initiated a conversation. ... Then Long reportedly suggested that Jesse make a mark 6 inches back off of the take-off board (as one version of the story has it) or that he place the towel 6 inches back of the board (according to another of Owens's accounts) in order to avoid fouling.

If Long did, in fact, make the helpful suggestion, no one but Owens heard it. No one else even observed the two men in conversation at the time. The doyen of American sports writers, Grantland Rice, was in the press box with binoculars trained on Owens between his second and third attempts to qualify. ... (Rice saw) only a calm mask of a face as Jesse walked down the sprint path to the take-off board, re-traced his steps, then "anteloped" down the path to make his final jump. ... left the ground with half-foot clearance at the take-off and went past 25 feet to safety. So Jesse qualified for the long jump. Jesse had the gold locked up before his final jump, but on the final jump: "As he hurled himself through space," noted Rice, ... "... seemed to be jumping clear out of Germany". "That final majestic jump, captured memorably by Leni Riefenstahl's cameramen, carried to a new Olympic record of 8.06 meters (26 feet, 5 1/4 inches).

(the text is fuzzy, but I believe that Long came in second) "Lutz Long's response, however, was most unexpected: Long rushed up to congratulate him. Years later, for select audiences, Owens indicated that this was, in fact, the first time Long and he ever spoke to each other". The text further comments that when speaking before large groups, Owens would give the other version, complete with Long's advice in the preliminaries, and, as Jesse told it, after his final jump, Long took Owens's hand, held it high, and shouted to the crowd, "Jesse Owens! Jesse Owens!" and the entire stadium thundered with a chanting of "Jaz-ee-ooh-wenz." According to those who actually saw it, all that the two men did was walk arm-in-arm off of the field toward the dressing rooms. The truth can be *so* dull, but this is alt.folklore.urban. Eighteen Black athletes represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics. African-Americans dominated the popular track and field events. Many American journalists hailed the victories of Jesse Owens and other Blacks as a blow to the Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy.

Gï¿½bbels's press censorship prevented German reporters from expressing their prejudices freely, but one leading Nazi newspaper demeaned the Black athletes by referring to them as "auxiliaries". The continuing social and economic discrimination the Black medalists faced upon returning home underscored the irony of their victory in racist Germany It is true that Owens and Long became good friends during their time in Berlin. Owens explained their "unique friendship" as "simply two uncertain young men in an uncertain world." "Uncertain it was. Long died in combat fighting for the Third Reich in Sicily. As an aside, the quaint story of Owens meeting Long's son in Berlin in 1951 and autographing a photo of his father may actually be true. Owens claims that Hitler glared angrily at the sight of his Aryan athlete shaking hands with Owens. However, Hitler virtually ignored the incident, and I know of no solid evidence that Hitler intentionally had Long sent to the front lines to be killed in action for congratulating Owens".

Question: How many gold medals did Jesse Owens win at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
Answer: 4