Fabio Casartelli The gold in Barcelona '92 that had a tragic end
Michael Johnson The staggering record and a final injury
Vitaly Scherbo The author of the milestone that no one has equaled
Bruce Jenner The Olympic champion and transgender adoptive father of the Kardashians
Martín López-Zubero The American who placed Spain at the top
Paavo Nurmi The Legend of the Flying Finn
Donovan Bailey The bombing of the 100 meters of Atlanta'96
Alberto Juantorena The man who dared to double his distance
Emil Zátopek The carpenter's son who came to triumph at the Games with a hernia
Rica Reinish The prodigious 'undine' and her complaint against the RDA anabolics
When James Cleveland Owens (Jesse Owens) arrived in Berlin in the summer of 1936 to participate in the Olympics of Nazi propaganda grandeur, his fame had long preceded him.
It was awaited with genuine anticipation.
On May 25, 1935, that grandson of slaves born in Danville (Alabama) on September 12, 1913 had entered the history of the sport by beating, in Ann Arbor (Michigan), in 45 minutes, five world records (in smooth yards or hurdles and long jump) and equal another.
In Berlin, a year later, Owens would intervene in the 100 meters, the 200 and the long jump.
Not in the 4x100 relays. He and
Ralph Metcalfe
, the second best sprinter in the USA, had not practiced the baton changes and, in addition, according to the coach, they should leave a portion of glory to the others. The team would be made up of
Sam Stoller
,
Marty Glickman
,
Frank Wykoff
(fourth in the individual race) and
Foy Draper
. But the president of the US Olympic Committee, the ultra-conservative
Avery Brundage
, removed Stoller and Glickman, the only Jews on the American expedition, from the quartet to flatter Hitler, in an episode that still raises hives. Owens and Metcalfe replaced them. Owens, oblivious to the maneuver, would thus reach a fourth gold.
The first, the 100 meters, on August 3.
In the qualifying series, Owens showed off without squeezing himself.
He made 10.3 in the first;
10.2 with a downwind in the second;
and 10.4 in the semifinals.
The final, six lanes, was served with three Americans, a Dutchman, a German and a Swede.
Owens won with 10.3, ahead of Ralph Metcalfe (10.4), also silver four years earlier in Los Angeles, and the Dutchman
Martinus Osendarp
(10.5).
It was, in a way, a very politicized final.
Metcalfe would be elected 34 years later to the US Congress. As for Osendarp, he would join the SS and spend seven years in prison after the German defeat.
Neither letter nor acknowledgment
The myth is widespread that
Hitler
left the stadium not to greet Owens when he had congratulated the medalists of three previous tests. In reality, the event occurred, the day before, with the winners in the high jump. Hitler had congratulated the winners of the first two finals of the day, Germans and Finns. But he left the venue before the award ceremony of the high jumpers, the Americans
Cornelius Johnson
,
David Albritton
and
Delos Thurber
, because the first two were black.
Owens always defended that Hitler, because of his occupations, had a very strict schedule in his assistances to the stadium and had to leave before the 100-meter honors.
Even so they greeted each other with a gesture when the athlete passed near him to address a television intervention.
Perhaps.
What does not admit of doubt is that the US president,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
, never invited Owens to the White House or sent him any letter of recognition and tribute.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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