Jesse Owens International Trophy

This article is about the annual award for all sportspeople. For the annual award for only American track and field athletes, see Jesse Owens Award.

The Jesse Owens International Trophy is an annual sports award that is given out by the International Athletic Association (IAA), named after Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens.[a] It has been awarded annually since 1981, with the exception of a ten-year break from 2004 to 2014.[1] In 2002 and 2003, it was briefly renamed "American-International Athlete Trophy" before it returned to its original name.[2]

The award was created and promoted by Herb Douglas, American long jumper and Olympic silver medalist in 1948. Douglas was inspired by Jesse Owens and founded the IAA.[3] After the pause due to Douglas' old age, former Penn Quakers football player Wesley E. Smith became chairman of the International Athletic Association and rebooted the award.[4]

There is a separate and unrelated annual track and field award called the Jesse Owens Award given out by USA Track & Field since 1981.


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  1. ^ "Usain Bolt, Messi, Phelps, LeBron among finalists for Prestigious Jesse Owens International Award". TrackAlerts. January 28, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  2. ^ "Jesse Owens' Olympic Gold Medal". Southeastern Antiquing and Collecting Magazine. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference r96 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference r14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).