Owens Wins Four Gold Medals.

Owens Wins Four Gold Medals. The following account tells how African American track-and-field star Jesse Owens captured four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, embarrassing and angering German dictator Adolf Hitler in the process. . Owens Wins Four Gold Medals The 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, were designed to showcase the glory of the Third Reich. Adolph Hitler crowed publicly about the purity of the German race and the prowess of the fatherland's athletes. The fascist press wrote disparagingly of the black athletes on the United States team. Once the competition began at the swastika-festooned Reich Sportsfeld, however, the superiority of the American athletes became evident. Among the greatest was runner Jesse Owens. In all, Owens, the grandson of slaves and the son of a sharecropper, won four gold medals in Berlin. He broke nine Olympic records and tied two. Winning the adulation of the German public, he shattered the Nazi myth of "Aryan supremacy." In Berlin in 1936, Owens became a figure of international renown. In the 100-meter dash Owens captured his first gold medal, winning each of his four heats with ease and tying the Olympic record with a time of 10.3 seconds in the final. Next, Owens competed in the long jump against German champion Luz Long. In the preliminary round, Owens fouled on his first two attempts with only one jump left to make the final. Long advised Owens to jump from well behind the takeoff board on his final attempt, and the German marked the spot with his own towel. Owens qualified on his last jump and went on to victory in the final round, jumping 26 ft 5 3/8 in (8 m 6 cm)--a new Olympic record. Owens then won the 200 meters by a full 3 m (10 ft), setting an Olympic record of 20.7 seconds and capturing his third gold medal. After a moment of stunned silence, the 100,000-strong audience rhythmically chanted his name. Owens warmly acknowledged the cheers of the German crowd. Hitler, however, hastened from the stadium. The Fuhrer refused to congratulate the African American. Owens led the U.S. team in the 400-meter relay. The team won the gold medal and set a new world record of 39.8 seconds. The relay victory was marred by controversy, however. Owens was one of two late additions to the U.S. squad, replacing two Jewish sprinters, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller. Although the rumor was never proved, observers speculated that the last-minute substitutions came at the urging of the Nazis. Owens himself later stated he argued against the move. Owens's feat--winning gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, the long jump, and the 400-meter relay, all in the same Olympics--went unequaled for 48 years, until American Carl Lewis duplicated the achievement at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Owens's world record in the long jump stood for a quarter century. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.