Jesse Owens
At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Jesse Owens won four gold medals and set Olympic records in each event he entered — a performance that stands as one of the defining moments in the history of track and field.
Born James Cleveland Owens on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, he went on to attend East Technical High School and North Platte High School before studying at Ohio State University. He competed as both a sprinter and a long jumper, and his athletic career brought him the Associated Press Athlete of the Year award. Beyond his work as a competitor, Owens was also an entrepreneur, demonstrating a range of professional interests that extended well past the track.
The honors Owens received over the course of his life reflected the breadth of recognition he earned in multiple arenas. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, two of the highest civilian honors the United States government offers. He also received the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the Silver Olympic Order, and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. After his death, he was inducted into the IAAF Hall of Fame, an acknowledgment of his standing within the sport of athletics.
Owens died on March 31, 1980, in Tucson, at the age of 66. The Congressional Gold Medal, awarded in recognition of his contributions, serves as a lasting marker of how his country came to formally honor him. His induction into the IAAF Hall of Fame ensured that his record at the 1936 Olympics — four gold medals, four Olympic records — remained anchored in the official history of international athletics.
Quotes by Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens's insights on:
I always loved running... it was something you could do by yourself and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition; awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.
We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.
We all have dreams, in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, self-discipline and effort.
I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
People come out to see you perform and you’ve got to give them the best you have within you.
I’d noticed him watching me for a year or so, especially when we’d play games where there was running or jumping.
It was bad enough to have toppled from the Olympic heights to make my living competing with animals. But the competition wasn’t even fair. No man could beat a race horse, not even for 100 yards.
It dawned on me with blinding brightness. I realized: I had jumped into another rare kind of stratosphere – one that only a handful of people in every generation are lucky enough to know.
I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn’t in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I’d learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.