Jesse Owens . One of the most remembered Olympic athletes in history, when he participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games where he obtained 4 gold medals, 2 world records and 1 Olympic record.
Biographical synthesis
He was born in Oakville , ( Alabama ) A December as September as 1913 , but moved to Cleveland , Ohio , when he was nine. He was the seventh of the eleven children of Henry and Emma Owens.
Owens was the grandson of a slave and the son of a farmer. He received the nickname “Jesse” from a Cleveland professor who couldn’t understand his accent when young Owens said his name was “JC”
Sports career
Athletic training
Owens always attributed his successful participation in athletics to the encouragement of his coach, during his studies at Fairview Junior High , Charles Riley , who started him in athletics.
Riley, along with Harrison Dillard , a Cleveland athlete , inspired the young Owens. Since Owens worked fixing shoes after school, Riley allowed Jesse to train before class, replacing regular training hours.
Owens began to stand out nationally in 1933 when, still a student at Cleveland’s East Technical High School , he broke the world record for the long jump for high school students with a mark of 7.55 meters and equaled the world record in 100. flat meters with his mark of 10.4 seconds.
World records and records
As a member of the Ohio State University track team in 1935 , he set a world record in the long jump of 8.13 m and the following year he broke a new record in the 100 m sprint with a time of 10.2 seconds.
Many universities wanted to sign him, but finally Owens chose Ohio State University and only after they promised him and his father jobs, ensuring the financial stability of his family. During this time, in which he is affectionately nicknamed the “Buckeye Bullet”, he achieved the record of eight NCAA ( National Collegiate Athletic Association ) championships: four in 1935 and another four in 1936 .
The NCAA record of four golds in a year has only been equaled by Xavier Carter in 2006 , but his titles include medals from relay races.
The greatest feat of Owens occurs within 45 minutes 25 of maypole of 1935 , during the Big Ten Conference in Ann Arbor , Michigan , where he set four world records, equaling the world record of 100 yards (91 meters at 9 4 seconds) and breaks the world records for the long jump (8.13 meters, a record that lasted 25 years), 220 yards (201 meters) sprints (20.3 seconds) and 220 yards hurdles (22.6 seconds, becoming in the first person to drop below 23 seconds). This incredible feat is considered one of the greatest athletic feats of all time. As a result of this day, he began to be known with the remoquete of the “Ebon Antelope”.
The Olympic Games
In 1936 , Owens traveled to Berlin , Germany , to participate with the United States team in the Olympic Games . Adolf Hitler was using these games to show the world a reborn Nazi Germany . Hitler and other members of the government have high hopes that German athletes will dominate the games with their victories. Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promotes the concept of the superiority of the Aryan race and depicts those of African origin as inferior.
Owens causes a great surprise by winning four gold medals: on August 3 in the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe ; on August 4 in the long jump, after some kind and useful advice from his German rival Luz Long ; on August 5 in a 200-meter dash; finally, together with the 4×100 meter relay team, he won his fourth medal on August 9 .
On the first day, Hitler only applauded with the victories of Germany , and some claim that he refused to shake hands with Cornelius Johnson, who was African American, although according to Hitler’s spokesman, he left the stadium earlier than planned. The officials of the Olympic Committee insist that Hitler applaud all the medalists or none. Hitler opts for the second option and is not in the following medal presentations.
Owens was acclaimed by 110,000 people at the Berlin Olympic Stadium and later, many Berliners asked for autographs when they saw him on the street. During his stay in Germany , he was excluded from citizenship under the Citizenship Act of the Reich of the 15 of September of 1935 . However, Owens was allowed to travel and stay in the same hotels as whites, which at the time was still ironic, as African Americans in the US did not have equal rights.
Return trip home
After the Games, he had many difficulties and became a promoter of the sport, essentially an entertainer. His self-promotion eventually turned him into a PR in Chicago , including a long stint as a jazz DJ . In 1968 , Owens received some criticism for supporting the agitated race riots that took place at the Olympic Games in Mexico that year.
Owens was very active in youth athletic programs and later founded his own public relations company. In 1970 his autobiography, The Jesse Owens Story, was published .
Awards and recognition
Jesse Owens was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US in 1976 by Gerald Ford and, posthumously, the Gold Medal of the Congress by George HW Bush the 28 of March of 1990 .
The record of four Olympics gold medals could only be equaled 48 years later by another Olympic legend named Carl Lewis .
In 1984 , a street in Berlin was renamed after his name, as was a secondary school in the Lichtenberg district .
End of his days
Owens, a chain smoker, a daily packet of tobacco for 35 years, dies on March 31 , 1980 at the age of 66, due to lung cancer, in Tucson , Arizona . His remains are interred in Chicago’s Oak Woods Cemetery .