Jesse Owens’ Historic Performance at the 1936 Olympics
At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Jesse Owens became one of the most iconic athletes in history by winning 4 gold medals in track and field events.
The 1936 Olympic Games were held at a newly constructed Berlin stadium in the midst of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Having been the first ever Olympic Games to be televised, Hitler saw the event as an opportunity to prove his theory of Aryan supremacy to the world. Jesse Owens, an African American track and field athlete, became one of history’s most memorable athletes as he foiled Hitler’s plans by winning four gold medals and becoming the most successful Olympian at the 1936 Games.
Jesse Owens had already became a track and field sensation before the 1936 Olympic Games. He had tied the world record for the 100 year dash while he was still in high school. In college, Owens had won a record eight individual NCAA championships between 1935 and 1936.
The U.S. almost didn’t get the chance to participate in the 1936 Olympics after America nearly boycotted the Games due to Hitler’s discriminatory policy against Jews. After much debate, Owens and his U.S. teammates sailed across the Atlantic for Berlin.
Owens was the first American to win four gold medals in track and field events at a single Olympic Games, a record that went unbroken for 48 years. The events that he won the gold in were the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and the long jump. Owens’ long jump during the Games measured 26 ft 5 in, just 3 inches shy of the record he had set the year before.
Though Germany was the most successful country at the 1936 Games with 89 medals total, Jesse Owens’ four gold medals made him the most successful individual athlete, undoubtably stealing the spotlight from Germany and their leader. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the 6th greatest athlete of the 20th century.
