A black athlete who became a hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympics is Jesse Owens. He won four gold medals in track and field and publicly refuted the Nazi theory of the superiority of the \"Aryan race\". Jesse Owens' Biography James Cleveland Owens was born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama, in a poor African American family. He was the youngest of ten children. Later, the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in search of a better life. He received the name \"Jesse\" by accident: his teacher overheard his initials \"J.C.\" and wrote them down as one word. From an early age, Owens combined studying with work: he delivered groceries, worked in a shoe repair shop. His interest in running was noticed by the school coach Charles Riley, who allowed him to train before classes. On May 25, 1935, Owens accomplished what is called \"the greatest 45 minutes in the history of sports.\" At the Big Ten competitions in Ann Arbor, he set three world records in 45 minutes and repeated the fourth — in the 100-yard, 200-yard, 220-yard hurdles, and long jump (8.13 m). The record in the long jump lasted 25 years. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Owens won four gold medals: in the 100 and 200-meter sprints, long jump, and 4x100-meter relay. After the Games, Owens returned to the United States, where he encountered racial segregation. He never received a decent job and, to feed his family, participated in exhibition races against horses and motorcycles. President Franklin Roosevelt did not even send him a congratulatory telegram. In 1976, Owens was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He died on March 31, 1980, at the age of 66. Hitler's Reaction to Owens' Triumph The reaction of Adolf Hitler to Owens' triumph is one of the most discussed pages of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The official version states that the Führer was enraged by the victories of the black athlete and demonstratively left the stadium, refusing to shake his hand. However, O ... Read more