The triumphs of James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens – a black athlete – at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made a mockery of Adolf Hitler’s claims of Aryan superiority.
THE triumphs of James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens – a black athlete – at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made a mockery of Adolf Hitler’s claims of Aryan superiority.
They turned him into one of the sporting icons of the 20th Century.
Hitler was determined to use the Games for propaganda.
Nazi propaganda rally kicks off the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Excerpt from YouTube
With the eyes of the world trained on Germany, it was his chance to showcase his country’s collective and individual strength.
Winning was everything. The Fuhrer demanded his athletes demonstrate their racial supremacy.
Discrimination, especially against Jews, was widespread throughout Germany.
It was part of everyday life for Owens too, in America’s largely segregated society.
He and his fellow black team-mates travelled to Germany third class on the SS Manhattan. White officials went first class on the higher decks.
The previous season Owens, from Cleveland, Ohio, had shown all the signs of being a future Olympic champion.
In just one hour at the ‘Big Ten’ athletics meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he set three world records, in the long jump, the 220-yards sprint and the 220-yards low hurdles.
He equalled a fourth record, running the 100 yards in 9.4 seconds.
Owens was the perfect athlete. He had power in his lower body – his legs working like pistons – combined with relaxation in the upper.
His achievements were widely reported in Germany and he found the German people friendly enough. Not so the Nazi-controlled media, who attributed his brilliance to his ‘animal qualities’.
Some newspapers printed his photo alongside pictures of apes.
On Tuesday August 4th, the second day of competition, Owens claimed the first two of his record haul of medals. He coasted to victory in the 100 metres in 10.3 seconds, which equalled the world record he had set in the heats.
Later that day he won gold in the long-jump, producing the first 26ft leap in Olympic history.
The next day he won the 200 metres in another world record time of 20.7 seconds.
He won his fourth gold as part of the 4 x 100 metres relay team.
In five days Owens raced ten times and jumped twice. He didn’t lose once. To Hitler’s fury, Owens became the Games’ star, not his Aryan athletes.
Indeed, he received a standing ovation every time he entered the stadium.
Hitler watched aghast as Owens and his black team-mates dominated the competition, though reports that the Fuhrer refused to shake Owens' hand have since been disputed, including by Owens himself, who claimed Hitler did at one point wave to him.
After Berlin, Owens was a household name worldwide, attracting interest from movie producers and commercial sponsors.
But he complained that President Roosevelt failed to send him a telegram, while he did receive a signed photo of Hitler.
Owens also said that, after a ticker-tape parade in his honour on New York's Fifth Avenue, he went to a reception at the Waldorf Astoria hotel and was made to use the service lift instead of the passenger lift because he was black.
Shortly after he returned home, the American Olympic Association took a dim view of Owens' professional activities and banned him from amateur events.
Owens was forced to work as an entertainer, taking part in money-making stunts involving him racing horses, dogs and trains.
He ended up working in menial jobs before his 35-year smoking habit claimed his life through lung cancer aged 66.
