Jesse Owens In The 1936 Olympics

One particular occasion that makes racism evident in the 1936 Olympics is the story of Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was an African-American track athlete that was a part of the United States Olympic track and field team. Owens was a diligent athlete who loved to compete. He grew up in Ohio and set countless high school track and field records through his teenage years. He continued this record setting trend through college competing at a national stage. His successes put him on the radar to compete at the international level. His potential as an athlete was above the standards of any human the world had ever seen before. This caused problems amongst the Nazi party because they believed the Aryan people to be dominant. The Nazi party was using
Hitler made his despise for Jesse Owens very evident. Hitler even left the stadium before Owens would compete in his events. He knew his victory was imminent, so he did not want to be there when Owens put Hitler’s ‘truths’ to shame. Government officials tried to cover Hitler by stating it was a mere coincidence that he left before Owens’ events, but in all reality it was not. Hitler was very open about his dislike of athletes who did not associate themselves with his beliefs. He even went to the extreme of only greeting the German athletes on the day of the opening ceremonies for the games. His refusal to shake hands and greet the other athletes brought his unfair treatment of the athletes to the 1936 Olympic Committee. The officials response to his actions stated that he must greet all athletes regardless of their race or religion. His other option was to not greet any of the athletes including his own, which is the option he chose. He despised the other races to a point he did not involve himself in welcoming any of the athletes to the games that he had hosted. Hitler made his dislikes of other races and religions to the public with his racist actions at the 1936