![]() ![]() And a myth was born that Hitler had snubbed Owens by failing to congratulate him. Two Jewish sprinters were denied the chance to compete for the United States at the last possible moment, most likely out of misguided deference to the Nazi hosts. ![]() At the games themselves the subplots and intrigue continued: Owens was befriended by a German rival, broad jumper Luz Long, who, legend has it, helped Owens win the gold medal at his own expense. A boycott was afoot, based on reports of Nazi hostility to Jews, but was thwarted by the president of the American Olympic Committee, who dismissed the actions of the Third Reich as irrelevant. From the start, American participation in the 1936 games was controversial. But it is also the intimate and complex tale of the courage of one remarkable man.ĭrawing on access to the Owens family, previously unpublished interviews, and exhaustive archival research, Jeremy Schaap transports us to Nazi Germany to weave this dramatic tale. ![]() The story of Jesse Owens at the 1936 games is that of a high-profile athlete giving a performance that transcends sports. In 1936, against a backdrop of swastikas flying and storm troopers goose-stepping, an African-American son of sharecroppers won a staggering four Olympic gold medals and single-handedly crushed Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy. ![]()
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