Jesse Owens Essay, Research Paper

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Jesse Owens was the best track athlete at the 1936 Olympics due

to his four gold medals in the 400 meter relay , the 100 meter dash , the

200 meter dash and the running board jump or the long jump. Now not

only did he run but he showed that he was also versitlie and could jump.

He also won a gold by the help of three others to win the 400 meter

relays. Now a short summary of his life will be discussed. One of the

greatest track-and-field athletes of all time. He was born James Cleveland

Owens in Danville, Alabama, and educated at Ohio State University.

However he competed in interscholastic track meets while attending

high school, excelling in the running broad jump, the 100-yd dash, and the

220-yd dash. As a member of the Ohio State University track squad in

1935, he established a world record of 26 ft 83 in. For the running broad

jump; the next year he set a new world record of 10.2 sec for the 100-m

dash.

A member of the U. S. track team in the 1936 Olympic Games , in

Berlin , Owens won four gold medals. He won the 100-m dash in 10.3 sec ,

equaling the Olympic record; set a new Olympic and world record of 20.7

sec in the 200-m dash ; and won the running broad jump with a leap of 26

ft 5I in. , setting a new Olympic record. He was also a member of the U.S.

400-m relay team that year , which set a new Olympic and world record of

39.8 sec. Despite Owens’s outstanding athletic performance , German leader

Adolf Hitler refused to acknowledge his Olympic victories because Owens

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was black.

Owens went on to play an active role in youth athletic programs and

later established his own public relations firm. Jesse proved you could make it

if you only put forth some effort. Jesse became a lifetime role model just

from one summer olympic games. Owens just demonstrated what every young

black kid in America wanted to become when the arose to his type of greatness.

Jesses’ to becoming the best at this olympic games was a pretty tough

road. He was pushed back because of the color of his skin , now there was

no way in hell the he used this as any type of an excuse when he didn’t

come in first. Jesse first started to see that he had talent when he was in

high school. He sees that he has a talent that not everyone else was

blessed with to have so he worked at it very hard in , fact harder than

anyone else around him. So while he did this it allowed him to stand out

even more than he ever dreamed.

Fittinglly he Owens virtually all the records at Ohio State University.

There of course was a down side at his university though because of prej-

udice people. Then the graet depression didn’t help at all, fewer than 15

percent of the american youths seeked a degree weather they were black or

white. Although there was a small number of black college people. If Jesse

wouldn’t have made himself the premire athletic prospect the would have never

been thought of as one to continue or pursue his education.