Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens
Owens at the 1936 Summer Olympics, where he won four Olympic gold medals
Personal information
Full nameJames Cleveland Owens
Born(1913-09-12)September 12, 1913
Oakville, Alabama, U.S.
DiedMarch 31, 1980(1980-03-31) (aged 66)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Resting placeOak Woods Cemetery
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationOhio State University,
Fairmont Junior High School,
East Technical High School[1]
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[2]
Weight165 lb (75 kg)
Spouse
M. Ruth Solomon
(m. 1935)
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Sprint, Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)60 yd: 6.1
100 yd: 9.4
100 m: 10.2
200 m: 20.7
220 yd: 20.3
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin 100 m
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin 200 m
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 1936 Berlin Long jump

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.[3]

Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".[4] He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport".[5]

He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited by ESPN with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy".[6]

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport. In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century.

  1. ^ "East Technical High School". Cleveland Metro Schools. April 5, 2017.
  2. ^ Edmondson, Jacqueline (2007). Jesse Owens: A Biography. US: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-313-33988-2. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  3. ^ Treasure Trove: A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories. Darya Ganj, New Delhi, India: Evergreen Publications Ltd. 2020. p. 103. ISBN 978-93-5063-700-5.
  4. ^ Litsky, Frank (1980), "Jesse Owens Dies of Cancer at 66", The New York Times, New York, retrieved March 23, 2014
  5. ^ Rothschild, Richard (May 24, 2010). "Greatest 45 minutes ever in sports". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  6. ^ Schwartz, Larry (2000). "Owens Pierced a Myth". ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on July 6, 2000.