The Controversy Of Jesse Owens In The Olympics

The Olympics has always been a memorable sporting event to be a part of, whether you’re an athlete or a spectator. For those who are not familiar with the event, the Olympics is an event where multiple sports are played out by thousands of athletes from around the world of at least 200 countries. The event is held every 4 years in the summer. Today, the Olympics has expanded into various events for everyone to adapt such as from creating the winter games for winter games to the Paralympic games for athletes with disability. A lot of historical things have happened in the Olympics from Women being allowed to compete in the games to the USA’s miracle on ice moment. Although it’s a great event, there will always be controversy that might occur
Jesse Owens was an American track and field athlete who specializes in long jump and sprints. At first, many people tried to talk him out on competing in Berlin due fear of racism. Also the country did not believe that having an African American athlete representing their country would help their fight against racism. But after a lot of convincing, Jesse Owens decided to compete despite knowing what was coming from the German fans. When he first arrived in Germany, he was introduced to a mob of German crowds, but with a warm and enthusiastic reception as they were cheering either “ Yesseh Oh-vens” or just “Oh-vens”. The Germans even asked Owens for an autograph. Owens was surprised and pleased that he was receiving such a reception from the Germans. This was a shock as this reception was a huge difference from the reception he would receive back in the states, where he and his companions would be forced to go stay and eat at places that were “black-only”. However, not everyone was thrilled to have Jesse Owens in Germany, as Adolf Hitler as he criticized the United States for including a Black athlete. He believed that the Aryans would come out on top and prove themselves as the superior
Then came the 100-meter dash, where Owens would set a world record, but it was disallowed due to high winds, so it was restarted. But that didn’t discourage Jesse Owens performance that would eventually lead to a world record breaking performance at 10 seconds. The next day, Jesse Owens would have one hell of a day as he would break many records in many events. The first one would be the 200-meter event as he would set a world record at 20 seconds. Later in the afternoon, he would compete in the long jump event where it was not only known for only setting a world record, but what happened between Owens and German athlete Luz Long. At this event, both Owens and Long would compete against each other but after a few jumps, they would eventually end up at a tie. So they would go again for a tie breaker to see who would come out on top. At first it looked like that Luz Long would take the gold, but it was Jesse Owens that came out on top as not only has he only won the gold, he also became the first person to break the 26-foot barrier. But everybody will only remember this event for when Owens and Long would shake hands and embrace each other after the event. They were met with thunderous applause and positive approval from the German fans. Jesse Owens and Luz Long would go on to develop a friendship with each other that would last until Long’s death in 1943. The following day, Owens would compete in