Jesse Owens The Summer Olympics occur every four years and always hold a lot of great and exciting events. In 1936, at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, something happened that no one would ever forget. A track and field star, a man named Jesse Owens made history by earning four gold medals in one day at the Olympics. Jesse Owens was an amazing athlete, but also went on to be a great leader after his career was over. James “Jesse” Cleveland Owens was born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama. His parents were Henry and Emma owens, who had 7 children including Jesse. In his young life, everyone knew him for being an athletic kid. He was surprising people in middle school when he set a record by running the 100 yard dash in just 10 seconds. His success continued and later went on to East Technical High School, where he set many records, and then earned a scholarship to Ohio State …show more content…
At the Big 10 championships in 1935, Jesse set 3 world records and tied another one. His 9.4 second 100 yard dash time tied a world record, but after that he set 3 records in just 45 minutes. The records were in the 220 yard dash, the 220 yard low-hurdles, and the long jump. On this day, he showed the world that he was ready to be phenomenal at the next level. The 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin was where Jesse made his mark. Adolf hitler was in attendance and he was very convinced that his “Aryan” or German people would dominate the Olympics. Jesse proved him wrong. Owens became the first American track and field athlete to win 4 gold medals in one Olympiad. He won the medals in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, the 4 by 400 meter relay and the long jump. Jesse won 4 gold medals but he was also remembered for defeating Hitler. Hitler was very upset at what Jesse did at the Olympics and because he proved Hitler’s assumptions wrong, he became an American