Jesse Owens

Legends are created in many different ways. Jesse Owens became an international hero by overcoming bias to triumph on the world’s biggest sports stage.

Owens takes off

Jesse first showed his athletic potential as a high school track-and-field star in Cleveland, Ohio. Many colleges recruited him for his incredible running and jumping abilities.

Jesse chose the Ohio State University Buckeyes. He earned a nickname at the school that stayed with him his whole life: Buckeye Bullet.

Just before the 1935 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Jesse fell down some stairs and hurt his back. He wasn’t sure he could compete, but he decided to give it a try.

What happened next was “the greatest single-day performance in athletic history,” according to Sports Illustrated. Jesse tied the world record in the 100-yard dash. Ten minutes later, he set a new world long-jump record. Within the next 30 minutes or so, he also set new world records in the 220-yard dash and the 220-yard low hurdles. Jesse had tied or set new world records in four events in just 45 minutes!

A world stage

Jesse’s performance in 1935 was incredible, but it was the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, that made him a legend.

Twenty-two-year-old Jesse was one of just 18 African-American athletes on the United States Olympic team.

Throngs of fans were eager to see him and get his autograph, including many young German fans.

Jesse needed police escorts to make his way around the city.

But his popularity in

Nazi Germany was surprising.

Germany’s leader,

Adolf Hitler, hoped that the Olympics would prove his belief that non-Jewish white people, referred to as

(AIR-ee-uhns), were better than people of all other races.

That was Hitler’s plan — until Jesse Owens started running and jumping. He captured four gold medals: the long jump, the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the 4x100-meter relay.

Four gold medals in a single Olympics had never before been accomplished by a track-andfield athlete, and the record stood for 48 years.

Jesse had been a celebrated athlete before he traveled to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics. But his appearance in Hitler’s Germany made him forever a legend in Olympic history.

Living his dream

Jesse Owens was the son of sharecroppers and the grandson of slaves. Yet his name, achievements and legend live on because he made his dream come true through determination, dedication, selfdiscipline and effort.

After retiring from track and field, Jesse spent a lot of time speaking to youth groups to inspire them to greatness. In 1976, he was honored by President Gerald R. Ford for his Olympic triumphs and humanitarian service with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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• jesseowens.com/about bit.ly/MPOwens

“Who Was Jesse Owens?” by James Buckley