Two years after he ran a 10.3 100-meter dash, he entered the university of Ohio State. He made history all four years he was there. He became universally known as “The Ebony Antelope.” People in Ohio called him “The Buckeye Bullet.” His senior year at college  he broke five world records and tied another, in less than 45 minutes.

This is a picture of Jesse Owens at Ohio Sate  in 1933.

Before the 1936 games began, Nazis began sweeping people off the streets and sending them to concentration camps. Hitler referred to black athletes as an inferior race. When Owens got to Berlin, Hitler thought it was time to show what he could do. Germans were scared to run because of Owens beating them. Owens made the games exciting because everybody wanted to watch him.

 Owens won the 100-meter dash with a world record time of 10.1 seconds. During the 200-meter dash he raced Jackie Robinsons older brother Mack and broke the Olympic record with a time of 20.7 seconds. During the Olympics Hitler messed with Jesse. Hitler refused to congratulate him on his first two gold medals. The day before Hitler congratulated the German winners, which got him in trouble with the members of the Olympic committee. In the long jump Owens fouled on his first two attempts. The first one was just a practice jump run where he ran right threw the pit, but the German officials counted it as a jump. Owens Olympics came to an end after the 4*100 relay with a world record time of 39.8 seconds. In the 4*100 Owens was the first runner, and before the second runner went the U.S. was ahead by 15 yards.

 Hitler left the stadium again so he wouldn’t have to congratulate Owens. Hitler was happy in the end because the German’s won more medals than all other countries combined. Owens made Hitler take back what he said after he won his fourth gold medal. The Nazi’s and Hitler were mad at the end of the Olympics. Owens was the first African American to win four gold medals in track and field. Germany only won five combined medals in men’s and women’s track and field in the games. In the 1936 games Germany had 89 medals overall in all events. The U.S. only had 56 medal’s in all events. After the 1936 games Jesse Owens was on the cover of a German magazine. The Berlin Olympics were one of the most dramatic and politically significant events in Olympic history. Owens stated that black athletes are no different than white athletes. He faced Hitler’s discrimination and other Germans during the 1936 Olympics. When he got back to his America he was a hero. When he got back he couldn’t ride in the front of the bus, because of all the Hitler stories, but he was still a hero. He wasn’t invited to the white house to shake hands with the president. He couldn’t live where he wanted or nothing. Owens used to say that he didn’t deserve any of this but later on he said he did.

This is a picture of Jesse Owens in his first event in the 1936 summer Olympic games.

In his career he broke 12 Olympic records, 4 of which came in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics. In 1976 president Ford presented Owens with the medal of freedom. Owens was a-pack-a-day smoker for 35 years. He died of lung cancer at the age of 66 on March 31st, 1980. In 1984 a street in Berlin was named after him. Jesse Owens is possibly the greatest sprinter who ever lived. Owens was the star of the 1936 games. He won most of the running events, but the Germans won all of the other track and field events. No other athlete could do what Owens did until Carol Lewis in the 1984 summer Olympic games. He broke all of Owens Olympic world records. A decade after his death president Bush awarded Owens the congressional medal of honor.

This is a picture of Jesse Owens with his Gold medal's in the 1936 summer Olympic games.

Zach Nitsch

7th Social Studies

Rossville Jr. High

Holocaust Project

Spring 2009

Bibliography