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Jesse Owens

Owens setting the world record in the long jump at the University of Michigan in 1935
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Owens setting the world record in the long jump at the University of Michigan in 1935
Medal ceremony for the long jump at the 1936 Olympics with Tajima, Owens and Lutz Long.
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Medal ceremony for the long jump at the 1936 Olympics with Tajima, Owens and Lutz Long.


James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 - March 31, 1980) was an African-American athlete and civic leader. He was most famous for his participation in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany where he won four gold medals and was the star of the games.

He was born in Oakville , Alabama and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He was given the name Jesse by a Cleveland teacher who did not understand his accent when he said he was called J.C.

In a span of 45 minutes on May 25, 1935 at the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he tied the record for the 100 yard (91 m) dash and set world records in the long jump, 220 yard (201 m) dash, and the 220 yard (201 m) low hurdles.

He won four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympics; on August 3 1936 the 100 m dash, on August 4 the long jump, on August 5 the 200 m dash, and after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, on August 9 he won his fourth gold medal on the 4 x 100 m relay. It wasn't until 1984 that his performance was duplicated; in the 1984 Summer Olympics Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events.

A persistent myth has grown up that Hitler had intended to use the games to promote "Aryan superiority", and was in the stadium for some of Owens' events but had refused to acknowledge him after his remarkable performances. In fact, in Owens' Autobiography, The Jesse Owens Story, Owens himself recounted how Hitler had stood up and waved to him:

"When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany." - Jesse Owens, The Jesse Owens Story, 1970.

In what was to become an act of extreme irony, the American president of the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then involved in an election and concerned about the reaction in the USA's southern states, refused to see Owens at the White House: Owens was later to remark that it was Roosevelt, not Hitler, who snubbed him.

After the games, he had difficulty making a living, however, and became a sports promoter, essentially promoting himself. He would give local sprinters ten or twenty yards (metres) start and still beat them in the 100 yd (91 m) dash. He also challenged and defeated racehorses, although he revealed later that the trick was to race a high-strung thoroughbred horse that would be frightened by the starter's pistol and give him a good jump.

His promotion work eventually turned into a career in public relations, including a long stint as a popular jazz disc jockey in Chicago.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by Gerald Ford and the Congressional Gold Medal by George H. W. Bush posthumously on March 28, 1990. In 1984, a street in Berlin was renamed in his honor. All his life he attributed his career to the encouragement of Charles Riley, his junior-high track coach, who had picked him off the playground and put him on the track team. (See Harrison Dillard, a Cleveland athlete inspired by Owens.)

Owens, a pack-a-day smoker for 35 years, died of lung cancer at age 66 in Tucson, Arizona. He is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, in Chicago, Illinois.

External links

  • Official Website http://www.jesseowens.com/
  • His accomplishments and his encounter with Adolf Hitler (ESPN) http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html


Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 100 m
Tom Burke | Frank Jarvis | Archie Hahn | Reggie Walker | Ralph Craig | Charlie Paddock | Harold Abrahams | Percy Williams | Eddie Tolan | Jesse Owens | Harrison Dillard | Lindy Remigino | Bobby Joe Morrow | Armin Hary | Bob Hayes | Jim Hines | Valeri Borzov | Hasely Crawford | Allan Wells | Carl Lewis | Linford Christie | Donovan Bailey | Maurice Greene | Justin Gatlin


Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 200 m
John Tewksbury | Archie Hahn | Bobby Kerr | Ralph Craig | Allen Woodring | Jackson Scholz | Percy Williams | Eddie Tolan | Jesse Owens | Mel Patton | Andy Stanfield | Bobby Joe Morrow | Livio Berruti | Henry Carr | Tommie Smith | Valeri Borzov | Don Quarrie | Pietro Mennea | Carl Lewis | Joe DeLoach | Mike Marsh | Michael Johnson | Konstantinos Kenteris | Shawn Crawford


Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in men's long jump
Ellery Clark | Alvin Kraenzlein | Meyer Prinstein (twice) | Frank Irons | Albert Gutterson | William Pettersson | William DeHart Hubbard | Ed Hamm | Ed Gordon | Jesse Owens | Willie Steele | Willie Steele | Jerome Biffle | Greg Bell | Ralph Boston | Lynn Davies | Bob Beamon | Randy Williams | Arnie Robinson | Lutz Dombrowski | Carl Lewis (four times) | Iván Pedroso | Dwight Phillips


Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 4x100 m relay


1912 Great Britain David Jacobs, Henry Macintosh, Victor d'Arcy & William Applegarth
1920 United States Charlie Paddock, Jackson Scholz, Loren Murchison & Morris Kirksey
1924 United States Loren Murchison, Louis Clarke, Frank Hussey & Alfred LeConey
1928 United States Frank Wykoff, James Quinn, Charles Borah & Henry Russell
1932 United States Robert Kiesel, Emmett Toppino, Hector Dyer & Frank Wykoff
1936 United States Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper & Frank Wykoff
1948 United States Barney Ewell, Lorenzo Wright, Harrison Dillard & Mel Patton
1952 United States Dean Smith, Harrison Dillard, Lindy Remigino & Andy Stanfield
1956 United States Ira Murchison, Leamon King, Thane Baker & Bobby Joe Morrow
1960 United team of Germany Bernd Cullmann, Armin Hary, Walter Mahlendorf & Martin Lauer
1964 United States Otis Drayton, Gerald Ashworth, Richard Stebbins & Bob Hayes
1968 United States Charles Greene, Melvin Pender, Ronnie Ray Smith & Jim Hines
1972 United States Larry Black, Robert Taylor, Gerald Tinker & Edward Hart
1976 United States Harvey Glance, John Wesley Jones, Millard Hampton & Steven Riddick
1980 Soviet Union Vladimir Muravyov, Nikolay Sidorov, Aleksandr Aksinin & Andrey Prokofyev
1984 United States Sam Graddy, Ron Brown, Calvin Smith & Carl Lewis
1988 Soviet Union Viktor Bryzgin, Vladimir Krylov, Vladimir Muravyov & Vitaly Savin
1992 United States Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell & Carl Lewis
1996 Canada Robert Esmie, Glenroy Gilbert, Bruny Surin & Donovan Bailey
2000 United States Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis & Maurice Greene
2004 Great Britain Jason Gardener, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish & Mark Lewis-Francis





Last updated: 02-08-2005 09:29:55
Last updated: 02-25-2005 21:01:11