James Cleveland "Jesse"Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an Americantrack and field athlete who made history at the1936 Olympic Games by winning four gold medals, setting Olympic records in each event.[4][5] He is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes in track and field history.[6][7][8]
Owens excelled in events like shortsprints and thelong jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".[9] He won four events, set five world records and tied another—all in less than an hour, at the 1935Big Ten Championships inAnn Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport".[10] He won fourNCAA titles in both 1935 and 1936, bringing his total to eight—an unparalleled achievement that remains unmatched to this day.[11]
He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics inBerlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited byESPN with "single-handedly crushingHitler's myth ofAryan supremacy".[12]
TheJesse Owens Award isUSA Track & Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete.[13] In a 1950Associated Press poll, Owens was voted the greatest track and field athlete for the first half of the century.[14] In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for theBBC'sSports Personality of the Century.[15] That same year, he was ranked the sixth greatestNorth American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport by ESPN.[16]
Early life and education
Jesse Owens, originally known asJ. C., was the youngest of ten children (three girls and seven boys) born to Henry Cleveland Owens [1881–1942] (asharecropper) and Mary Emma Fitzgerald inOakville, Alabama, on September 12, 1913. He was the grandson of a slave.[4] At the age of nine, he and his family moved toCleveland,Ohio for better opportunities as part of theGreat Migration (1910–70) when millions of African Americans left thesegregated and rural South for the urban and industrial North. When his new teacher asked his name to enter in her roll book, he said "J. C.", but because of his strong Southern accent, she thought he said "Jesse". The name stuck, and he was known as Jesse Owens for the rest of his life.[17]
In his younger years, Owens took different menial jobs in his spare time: he delivered groceries, loaded freight cars, and worked in a shoe repair shop while his father and older brother worked at a steel mill.[18] During this period, Owens realized that he had a passion for running. Throughout his life, Owens attributed the success of his athletic career to the encouragement of Charles Riley, hisjunior high school track coach at Fairmount Junior High School. Since Owens worked after school, Riley allowed him to practice before school instead.
Owens and Minnie Ruth Solomon (1915–2001) met at Fairmont Junior High School in Cleveland when he was 15 and she was 13. They dated steadily through high school. Ruth gave birth to their first daughter Gloria in 1932. They married on July 5, 1935, and had two more daughters together: Marlene, born in 1937, and Beverly, born in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1980.[19][20]
Owens first came to national attention when he was a student ofEast Technical High School in Cleveland; he equaled the world record of 9.4 seconds in the 100 yards (91 m) dash, broke the national high school record with 20.7 seconds in the 220 yards (201 m) dash, and long-jumped 24 feet9+1⁄2 inches (7.56 m) at the 1933 National High School Championship inChicago.[21] His 100-yard dash remained the national high school record until 1967, while his 200-yard dash held the national record for 20 years.[22]
Career
Ohio State University
Owens attendedOhio State University after his father found employment, which ensured that the family could be supported.[23] Affectionately known as the "Buckeye Bullet" and under the coaching ofLarry Snyder, Owens won a record eight individualNCAA championships, four each in 1935 and 1936.[10] His career total of eight individual NCAA titles remains the most, despite only two years of Varsity competition—which included an undefeated junior year in 1936 where he won all 42 events he entered.[24] Though Owens enjoyed athletic success, he had to live off campus with other African-American athletes. When he traveled with the team, Owens was restricted to ordering carry-out or eating at "blacks-only" restaurants. Similarly, he had to stay at "blacks-only" hotels. Owens did not receive a scholarship for his efforts, so he continued to work part-time jobs to pay for school.[25]
Day of days
May 25, 1935, is remembered as the day when Jesse Owens won four events and established sixworld records inathletics at theBig Ten Championships.[26] On that day, Owens battled through a lower back injury and set fiveworld records and tied a sixth in a span of 45 minutes from 3:15–4 p.m. during theBig Ten meet atFerry Field inAnn Arbor, Michigan.[27] He equaled the world record for the100-yard dash (9.4 seconds) (not to be confused with the 100-meter dash), and set world records in thelong jump (26 feet8+1⁄4 inches or 8.13 metres, a world record that would last for 25 years); 220 yards (201.2 m) sprint (20.3 seconds); and 220-yardlow hurdles (22.6 seconds, becoming the first to break 23 seconds).[28] Both 220-yard records had also beaten the metric records for200 meters (flat and hurdles), which counted as two additional world records from the same performances.[29][12] In 2005,University of Central Florida professor of sports history Richard C. Crepeau chose these wins on one day as the most impressive athletic achievement since 1850.[30]
1936 Big Ten Championships
At the 1936 Big Ten Championships, Owens dominated the competition, winning the long jump, 100-yard dash, 220-yard dash, and100-yard low hurdles. With these victories, he concluded his Big Ten Championship career undefeated—nine titles in nine events.[b][31]
USA Track and Field Championships
At the1934 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Owens captured the long jump gold with a world-record leap of25 ft3+1⁄8 in (7.699 m).[32] Two years later, at his final appearance at theOutdoor Championships in1936, he shattered the long jump world record once again with a remarkable jump of 26 feet, 8¼ inches. That same meet, he also set a new championship record in the 100 meters, clocking in at 10.4 seconds.[33] Over the course of his career at these championships, Owens amassed a total of six gold medals—five in the long jump and one in the 100 meters.[34]
On December 4, 1935,NAACP SecretaryWalter Francis White wrote a letter to Owens, but never sent it.[35] He was trying to dissuade Owens from taking part in the1936 Summer Olympics inNazi Germany, arguing that an African American should not promote a racist regime after what his race had suffered at the hands of racists in his own country. In the months prior to the Games, a movement gained momentum in favor of a boycott. Owens was convinced by the NAACP to declare: "If there are minorities in Germany who are being discriminated against, the United States should withdraw from the 1936 Olympics." Yet he and others eventually took part afterAvery Brundage, president of theAmerican Olympic Committee branded them "un-American agitators".[36]
2015 photograph of the U.S. track team house at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Village2015 photograph of Jesse Owens's room in the 1936 Olympic Village in Berlin
In 1936, Owens and his United States teammates sailed on theSSManhattan and arrived in Germany to compete at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Just before the competitions, founder ofAdidas athletic shoe companyAdi Dassler visited Owens in the Olympic village and persuaded Owens to wear Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik shoes; this was the first sponsorship for a male African American athlete.[37]
On August 3, Owens won the 100 m dash[38] with a time of 10.3 seconds, defeating a teammate and a college friend[2]Ralph Metcalfe by a tenth of a second and defeatingTinus Osendarp of the Netherlands by two-tenths of a second.
On August 4, he won the long jump with a leap of 8.06 metres (26 ft 5 in) (3¼ inches short of his own world record). He initially credited this achievement to the technical advice that he received fromLuz Long, the German competitor whom he defeated,[12] but later admitted that this was not true, as he and Long did not meet until after the competition was over.[39]
On August 5, he won the 200 meter sprint with a time of 20.7 seconds, defeating fellow American teammateMack Robinson (the older brother ofJackie Robinson).
On August 9, Owens won his fourth gold medal in the 4 × 100 m sprint relay when head coachLawson Robertson replaced Jewish-American sprintersMarty Glickman andSam Stoller with Owens and Ralph Metcalfe,[40] who teamed withFrank Wykoff andFoy Draper to set a world record of 39.8 seconds in the event.[41] Owens had initially protested the last-minute switch, but assistant coachDean Cromwell said to him, "You'll do as you are told."[citation needed] Owens's record-breaking performance of four gold medals was not equaled untilCarl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the1984 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles. Owens had set the world record in the long jump with a leap of 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) in 1935, the year before the Berlin Olympics, and this record stood for 25 years until it was broken in 1960 by countrymanRalph Boston. Coincidentally, Owens was a spectator at the1960 Summer Olympics in Rome when Boston took the gold medal in the long jump.
The long-jump victory is documented, along with many other 1936 events, in the 1938 filmOlympia byLeni Riefenstahl. On August 1, 1936, Nazi Germany's leader,Adolf Hitler, shook hands with the German victors only and then left the stadium. International Olympic Committee presidentHenri de Baillet-Latour insisted that Hitler greet every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations.[42][43]
Owens ran his first race on Day 2 of the Olympics (August 2). That day, He ran in the first (10:30 a.m.) and second (3:00 p.m.) qualifying rounds for the 100-meter final. He tied the Olympic and world record in the first race and broke them in the second race, but the new time was not recognized, because it was wind-assisted.[44] Later the same day, Owens's African-American team-mateCornelius Johnson won gold in the high jump final (which began at 5:00 p.m.) with a new Olympic record of 2.03 meters.[45] Hitler did not publicly congratulate any of the medal winners this time; even so, the communist New York City newspaper theDaily Worker claimed Hitler received all the track winners except Johnson and left the stadium as a "deliberate snub" after watching Johnson's winning jump.[46] Hitler was subsequently accused of failing to acknowledge Owens (who won gold medals on August 3, 4 (two), and 9) or shake his hand. Owens responded to these claims at the time:
Hitler had a certain time to come to the stadium and a certain time to leave. It happened he had to leave before the victory ceremony after the 100 meters [race began at 5:45 p.m.[47]]. But before he left I was on my way to a broadcast and passed near his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I think it was bad taste to criticize the "man of the hour" in another country.[48][49]
In an article dated August 4, 1936, the African-American newspaper editorRobert L. Vann describes witnessing Hitler "salute" Owens for having won gold in the 100 m sprint (August 3):
And then ... wonder of wonders ... I saw Herr Adolph [sic] Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, get an ovation the like of which I have never heard before. I saw Jesse Owens greeted by the Grand Chancellor of this country as a brilliant sun peeped out through the clouds. I saw a vast crowd of some 85,000 or 90,000 people stand up and cheer him to the echo.[50]
In 2014,Eric Brown, British fighter pilot and test pilot, aged 17 in 1936 and later becoming theFleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot,[51] stated in aBBC documentary: "I actually witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Jesse Owens and congratulating him on what he had achieved".[52] Additionally, an article inThe Baltimore Sun in August 1936 reported that Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself.[53] Later, on October 15, 1936, Owens repeated this claim when he addressed an audience of African Americans at a Republican rally inKansas City, remarking: "Hitler didn't snub me—it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."[54][55][56]
Owens's success at the games caused consternation for Hitler, who was using them to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany.[57] He and other government officials had hoped that German athletes would dominate the games.[57][58] Nazi ministerAlbert Speer wrote that Hitler "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."[59]
In Germany, Owens had been allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, at a time whenAfrican Americans in many parts of the United States had to stay insegregated hotels that accommodated only blacks.[60] When Owens returned to the United States, he was greeted in New York City by MayorFiorello La Guardia.[61] During aManhattanticker-tape parade[62] in his honor along Broadway'sCanyon of Heroes, someone handed Owens a paper bag. Owens paid it little mind until the parade concluded. When he opened it up, he found that the bag contained $10,000 in cash (equivalent to $227,000 in 2024). Owens's wife Ruth later said: "And he [Owens] didn't know who was good enough to do a thing like that. And with all the excitement around, he didn't pick it up right away. He didn't pick it up until he got ready to get out of the car".[63]
After the parade, Owens was not permitted to enter through the main doors of theWaldorf Astoria New York and instead forced to travel up to the reception honoring him in a freight elevator.[60][64] PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) never invited Jesse Owens to the White House following his triumphs at the Olympic Games.[65] When the Democrats bid for his support, Owens rejected those overtures: as a staunch Republican, he endorsedAlf Landon, Roosevelt's Republican opponent in the1936 presidential race.[66][67] Owens was employed to do campaign outreach for African American votes for Landon in the1936 presidential election.[68][69]
Owens was quoted saying the secret behind his success was, "I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up."[70][71]
After the 1936 Olympics,Avery Brundage organized a grueling European exhibition tour to profit theAAU andUSOC, both of which he led. Owens, exhausted but pressured to compete, ran multiple races across Europe with little rest, food, or support. Despite such treatment, Brundage continued booking events acrossScandinavia. Owens, drained and frustrated, eventually refused to continue. Brundage retaliated by having Owens permanently suspended from amateur competition which immediately ended his career. Owens was angry and stated that "A fellow desires something for himself." As Ruth Owens later recalled, "That Avery Brundage feller tore a big hole inside Jesse."[72][73] Owens argued that theracial discrimination he had faced throughout his athletic career, such as not being eligible for scholarships in college and therefore being unable to take classes between training and working to pay his way, meant he had to give up on amateur athletics in pursuit of financial gain elsewhere.[74]
After returning to theUnited States following his Olympic success, racism back home led to difficulty earning a living despite his international acclaim. Owens struggled to find work and took on menial jobs as a gas station attendant, playground janitor,[75] and manager of a dry cleaning firm and at times resorted to racing against motorbikes, cars, trucks and horses for a cash prize.[76][77]
People say it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals.[76]
Jesse Owens had broken racial barriers and done things that no other man had done before him. Yet after he returned home from theOlympic Games, he was not greeted with the glory and praise that other White Olympians had received. Owens stated, "No one had offered me a job" and "I had jumped farther and run faster than any man ever had before, and it left me with next to nothing."[78] Jesse wasn't being treated like an Olympic gold medalist but instead, just like any other African American at that time. Another quote said "So I sold myself into a new kind of slavery. I was no longer a proud man who had won four Olympic gold medals. I was a spectacle, a freak who made his living by competing—dishonestly—against dumb animals."[78] Despite his athletic triumphs, he was not spared from poverty and was forced to take on degrading work just to afford basic necessities.
Owens bridged the gap between racial disenfranchisement and opportunity. His Olympic medals showed the Jim Crow South and the world what was possible when African Americans were given a fair chance. Though many resisted racial integration, Owens served as a key figure for the beginning building blocks of the civil rights movement.[79]
Owens was banned from attending amateur events to enhance his visibility, and soon discovered that commercial opportunities had almost completely dried up. In 1937, he briefly toured with a twelve-piece jazz band under contract with Consolidated Artists but found it unfulfilling. He also made appearances at baseball games and other events.[80]
Owens was involved politically and lent his support to the Republican Party andAlf Landon in the1936 United States Presidential Election, saying thatAdolf Hitler congratulated him but that he was snubbed by PresidentFranklin Roosevelt after winning a gold medal.[81][82] In 1942,Willis Ward—a friend and former competitor from theUniversity of Michigan[83]—who was then working atFord Motor Company as Assistant Personnel Director, invited Owens toDetroit. Ward worked for theFord Motor Company's "ad hoc civil rights division, serving as the liaison between black and white workers"[84][85] and was an advocate for African American employees in the personnel department. Owens wound up replacing him, and remained with Ford until 1946.[86] In the late 1940s, Owens moved his family to Chicago and opened his ownpublic relations agency.
Owens helped promote theexploitation filmMom and Dad in African American neighborhoods.[90] He tried to make a living as a sports promoter, essentially an entertainer. He would give local sprinters a ten- or twenty-yard start and beat them in the 100-yd (91-m) dash. He also challenged and defeated racehorses; as he revealed later, the trick was to race a high-strungThoroughbred that would be frightened by the starter's shotgun and give him a bad jump. On the lack of opportunities, Owens added, "There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway."[74]
During spring training in 1965, Owens was hired by theNew York Mets as a running instructor.[92]
Owens ran adry cleaning business and worked as a gas station attendant to earn a living, but he eventually filed forbankruptcy. In 1966, he was successfully prosecuted fortax evasion.[93] At rock bottom, he was aided in beginning his rehabilitation. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower enlisted Owens as agoodwill ambassador in 1955 and sent the world-renowned track star to India, the Philippines, and Malaya to promote physical exercise as well as tout the cause of American freedom and economic opportunity in the developing world. He would continue his goodwill tours in the 1960s and 1970s. Although he lost his patronage job with the Illinois Youth Commission in 1960, Owens continued his product endorsement work for such corporations as Quaker Oats, Sears and Roebuck, and Johnson & Johnson. Owens traveled the world and spoke to companies such as theFord Motor Company and stakeholders such as theUnited States Olympic Committee.[94] In 1972, he and his wife retired to Arizona.[95]
The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers—weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there's money inside. There's where the power lies.
Four years later in his 1972 bookI Have Changed, he revised his opinion:
I realized now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man was concerned, that any black man who wasn't a militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.
From 1974 to 1977, Owens served on theBoys Town Board of Directors, frequently meeting with students to share his life experiences and the challenges he overcame.[99]
Owens was a pack-a-daycigarette smoker for 35 years, starting at age 32.[101] Beginning in December 1979, he was hospitalized on and off with an extremely aggressive anddrug-resistant type oflung cancer. He died of the disease at age 66 inTucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his wife and other family members at his bedside.[102] He was buried next to the Lake of Memories atOak Woods Cemetery in Chicago, near where his children and extended family still lived. The grave is inscribed:
Jesse Owens. Olympic Champion. 1936. Athlete and humanitarian. A master of the spirit as well as the mechanics of sports. A winner who knew that winning was not everything. He showed extraordinary love for his family and friends. His achievements have shown us all the promise of America. His faith in America inspired countless others to do their best for themselves and their country. September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980.
President Jimmy Carter issued a tribute to Owens, stating: "Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry."[103]
Following his athletic career, Owens experienced difficulties securing financial stability, a circumstance attributed in part to limited opportunities available toAfrican American athletes during that period.[111] Although he was celebrated for his Olympic accomplishments, he was not invited to theWhite House or formally recognized by theU.S. government at the time.[112] Later in life, his contributions to sport and society were acknowledged through various honors, including thePresidential Medal of Freedom in1976 and theCongressional Gold Medal posthumously in1990.[113]
"Giants like Jesse Owens show us why politics will never defeat the Olympic spirit. His character, his achievements have continued to inspire Americans as they did the whole world in 1936."[114] —Gerald Ford
Thedormitory that Owens occupied during the Berlin Olympics has been fully restored into a living museum, with pictures of his accomplishments at the games, and a letter (intercepted by theGestapo) from a fan urging him not to shake hands with Hitler.[122][123]
1936: FourEnglish oak saplings, one for each Olympic gold medal, from theGerman Olympic Committee, planted. One of the trees was planted at theUniversity of Southern California, one at Rhodes High School in Cleveland, where he trained, and one is rumored to be on theOhio State University campus but has yet to be identified. The fourth tree was at the home of Jesse Owens's mother but was removed when the house was demolished.[212]
1950: Voted the greatest black athlete of all time and the greatest track and field athlete for the first half of the century in a poll conducted by theAssociated Press.[14][209]
1950: At the 50th anniversary of theBig Ten Championships, Owens was unanimously named the top track athlete of the half-century and the only athlete selected for the all-star team in more than one individual event—earning spots in the100-yard dash,220-yard dash,220-yard low hurdles, andlong jump.[213]
October 18, 1955:Track and Field magazine names Owens all-time Track and Field athlete.[215]
1956: Owens was elected an honorary member ofOSU's chapter of the Senior honor society Sphinx.[216]
1959: Owens returned toDes Moines and was celebrated at theDrake Relays as the most outstanding athlete to compete in the first 50 years of the competition.[154]
1980: Jesse Owens Academy inChicago was named in his honor, but it closed in 2013 and merged with Gompers Elementary. Following public outcry, the merged school was once again named after him.[229][230]
1981: The International Athletic Association has annually presented theJesse Owens International Trophy, with the exception of a ten-year break from 2004 to 2014.[236]
1982: InCleveland, Ohio, a statue of Owens in his Ohio State track suit was installed at Fort Huntington Park, west of theold Courthouse.[237]
2001:Ohio State University dedicatedJesse Owens Memorial Stadium for track and field events. A sculpture honoring Owens occupies a place of honor in the esplanade leading to the rotunda entrance to Ohio Stadium. Owens competed for the Buckeyes on the track surrounding the football field that existed prior to the 2001 expansion of Ohio Stadium. The campus also houses three recreational centers for students and staff named in his honor.[250]
2005: Posthumously receives theIAAF Golden Order of Merit.[252]
2009: At the2009 World Athletic Championships in Berlin, all members of the United States Track and Field team wore badges with "JO" on them to commemorate Owens's victories in the same stadium 73 years before.[253]
2009: TheDrake Relays honored Owens as the Athlete of the Century.[254]
2012: The Jesse Owens Room, named in his honor at theNCAA campus inIndianapolis.[260]
2016: A portion ofHighway 36 beginning at I-65 Exit 328 and ending at theLawrence County line just west ofDanville was renamed Jesse Owens Parkway.[261]
2016: The Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award is presented annually by theU.S. Olympic Committee to recognize those who have served as an inspiration in society.[262]
2017: Inaugural recipient of theAAU Gussie Crawford Lifetime Achievement Award.[263]
July 2018: Ohio governorJohn Kasich dedicated the 75th state park Jesse Owens State Park. It is located onAEP reclaimed mining land south of Zanesville, OH.[264]
2021: A horticulturally propagated tree from the original Jesse Owens Olympic Oak was planted by theRockefeller Park Lagoon.[265] In 2022, another was planted beside the original tree atJames Ford Rhodes High School.[266]
2023: The team at University Circle Inc. dedicated the Jesse Owens Olympic Oak Plaza inRockefeller Park.[267]
2025: The bookJesse Owens byAlain Foix [fr] was awarded the Sportilivre Prize by the Voies Civiles think tank.[277]
The Jesse Owens Rising Star Award
Beginning in 2024, a collaboration among the Owens family, the Jesse Owens Foundation, and theWanda Diamond League will recognize two exceptional emerging top-performing male and female athletes, aged 23 or under.[278]
Each winner will receive a bronze statuette of Owens designed by Belgian sculptor Jan Desmarets. Twooak trees will also be planted in the host city in honor of the two winners.[279]
2017: In theJordan Peele-directed filmGet Out, Roman Armitage, the villainous patriarch, lost the qualification round for the 1936 Olympics to Owens, instigating his neurosurgical research and theft of young black men via brain transplant.[301][302][303]
^abIn addition to winning four titles apiece in both the 1935 and 1936Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Owens finished first in the60-yard dash at the 1935 Big Ten Indoor Championships.
^In hishigh school career, Owens finished first in 75 of the 79 competitions he entered. He established a world record in the50-yard dash and his 9.4 second100-yard dash equaled the world record and set a national high school record that stood until 1967. He also set national high school records in the220-yard dash at 20.7 seconds, which lasted 25 years, and thelong jump at 24 feet 11¼ inches, which stood for 16 years.[127]
^Set state records in thelong jump and4 × 220-yard relays in 1932; In 1933, he set state records in all four events he competed in, the only athlete to ever set four state records in a single state track meet.
^Subsequently tied his own world record on two separate occasions on March 24 and 31, 1934.
^Previously tied the world record on February 26, 1934 in 6.2 seconds and broke the world record on March 9, 1935 in 6.1 seconds.[189]
^Previously tied the world record on February 10, 1934 in 6.8 seconds.
^Tied the world record a total of seven times throughout his career.Chicago June 17, 1933;Columbus May 19, 1934;[191]Evanston May 18, 1935;Ann Arbor May 25, 1935; Columbus May 2, 1936; Columbus June 13, 1936; Chicago June 20, 1936 (official time taken during 100m race); Unofficially broke the world record atWisconsin May 16, 1936 with a wind assisted time of 9.3 seconds.
^At the 1935Big Ten Championships on May 25, 1935, more than half the official timers actually clocked Owens at 9.3 seconds, making his actual time approximately 9.35 seconds, but the rules of the day stipulated that each runner got attributed the slowest time recorded.[192] The timers also may have heeded the head official's admonition to "watch for the back foot. See it cross the finish line, and then press the old forefinger."
^Also broke the world record for the200 metres (straight).
^Previously broke the world record on July 12, 1936 with a time of 21 seconds flat.
^Also broke the world record for the200 metres hurdles; Chief timer Phil Diamond was distracted just as the gun fired and notified the number 4 timer that he was one of the 3 official timers. The number 4 timer got 22.6 seconds, but the originally selected two timers timed Owens in 22.4 seconds. The time should have been 22.4, but Diamond refused to certify anything faster than a 22.6 "because it was a world-record application blank".
^Previously broke the world record on May 18, 1935 with a time of 22.9 seconds.
^Also broke the world record at the same event with a leap of25 ft7+7⁄8 in (7.820 m); Previously broke the world record on February 24, 1934 with a leap of25 ft3+1⁄4 in (7.703 m).
^Also broke the world record the day before on August 8 with a relay time of 40 seconds flat.
^One of the 3 official timers clocked him in 8.4 seconds.
^abTreasure Trove: A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories. Darya Ganj, New Delhi, India: Evergreen Publications Ltd. 2020. p. 103.ISBN978-93-5063-700-5.
^"Negroes Set New Records in Olympics".Daily Worker. August 3, 1936. p. 3. A copy of this newspaper is available on the websiteFulton History and can be located with a simple word search.
^"This athletic contest between the leading nations of the country, is a spectacle of spectacles! It's the greatest thing of its kind I've ever seen. Sunday, I witnessed 110,000 people cheer two Negro athletes, because they were supreme in their field. Monday, I saw another vast crowd of close to 100,000 people go "literally crazy" as they saw Jesse Owens, running with the effortless speed of an antelope, completely dominate his field to win "going away" in the 100 meters, with Ralph Metcalfe of Marquette University placing second. And then ... wonder of wonders ... [sic] I saw Herr Adolph Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, get an ovation the like of which I have never heard before. I saw Jesse Owens greeted by the Grand Chancellor of this country as a brilliant sun peeped out through the clouds. I saw a vast crowd of some 85,000 or 90,000 people stand up and cheer him to the echo. And they were mostly Germans! Make no mistake about it. These German people are mighty fine. They have a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play which overrides the color-barrier. This week, as Negro athletes have sent the Start and Stripes of the United States shooting to the top of the flag-pole on three different occasions, I have observed the spirit, not only of the German people, but of those competing from foreign countries. And I've found out, that in the world of sport, where personal perfection is the measuring rod of achievement, color does not count.|Vann, Robert L. (August 8, 1936). "Hitler Salutes Jesse Owens [Aug. 4 – (By Cable)]".Pittsburgh Courier. p. 1. A copy of this newspaper is available on the websiteFulton History and can be located with a simple word search. The article is partially quoted inSchaap, Jeremy (2007).Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 194.
^"Owens Will Talk in Landon Drive".The New York Times. New York City. September 3, 1936. p. 10.(subscription required)
^"Owens Jumps into Political Ring; Landon for President".The McDowell Times (Keystone, West Virginia). September 4, 1936. RetrievedApril 23, 2020.... the most important thing, I think, is to elect Governor Alfred M. Landon president. His election will be good for America and for the people of the colored race.
^Streissguth, Thomas (2005).Jesse Owens. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 70.ISBN0-8225-3070-8.
^Ridgwell, Henry (August 23, 2012)."Hitler's Olympic Village Faces Conservation Battle".VOA News. Voice of America. RetrievedApril 14, 2023.A letter from a fan urges Owens to refuse to accept a medal from 'bloodstained hands'. He never saw it; it was intercepted by the Gestapo, the German secret police.
^Danny Boyle andFrank Cottrell Boyce, the director and writer of the ceremony, in their audio commentary track to the BBC DVD of the entire opening ceremony
_at_Oak_Woods_Cemetery%2c_Chicago_1.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
