In the summer of 1936, there were still three years to go before World War II. This year, a world-renowned event was held in Berlin, Germany: the Berlin Summer Olympics.
Berlin Summer Olympics
Hitler, the ruling leader of Germany at the time, wanted to prove to the world his theory of the superiority of the Aryan race through this competition.
However, the appearance of a black man broke Hitler's plan.
He was Jesse Owens, a black track and field star from the United States, the most popular athlete at the Olympics.
Jesse Owens
At the time, mainstream Newspapers in Britain and the United States reported owens on The Attack on Hitler with headlines such as "the myth of the supremacy of the Aryans is bankrupt" and "Owens mocked Hitler."
He not only won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay, but also broke 9 Olympic records and became the deserved winner of that Olympic Games.
He is the greatest athlete in the history of the modern Olympic Games and has been hailed as "the best track and field athlete of the century".
Owens was born on September 12, 1913, to a black serf family in Alabama, southern United States. Due to his family's poverty, Owens had to follow his parents to the fields at a very young age.
Later, his father went to work in the mine and barely fed the family. In order to support his family, the young Owens often went to polish other people's shoes after school.
Due to a long period of starvation, Owens was frail and sickly from an early age.
The film Black Lightning based on Owens
At the age of 9, Owens was sent to Mormont Technical School. Perhaps it was Heaven's favor for him, and it was here that Owens met the teacher who changed his life, Riley.
Reilly was a physical education teacher at the school at the time, and in order to improve Owens's health, he encouraged Owens to run to get fit.
After discovering that Owens had a talent for athletics, he was often mentally encouraged to grow up in adversity, and to be self-disciplined and diligent to set his own goals in life.
Owens also overcame many difficulties with the help of this life mentor, setting four records for middle school students in the United States in high school.
On May 25, 1935, Ann Arbor in the United States played an athletics games jointly organized by 10 universities. On this day, Owens created a miracle in the history of athletics, and the whole world cheered for him.
At 3:15 p.m., it was Owens' turn to play, and he didn't have much hope for the result due to a back injury before the game, but the professionalism of the athletes made him have to fight hard no matter what.
Unexpectedly, from this moment to the next 45 minutes, he alone broke five world records and tied a world record, which amazed everyone and amazed them.
Since then, Owens has been crowned the "Black Lightning" and is known as a sports icon.
At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, although the German government was not friendly to Owens, a German made him a lifelong friendship: Luz Lang, the German long jumper at the time.
Luz Long and Jesse Owens
Arguably, Luz Long's friendship with Owens spanned race and nationality.
In the long jump at the time, Luz Long was rival with Owens. On that day, Hitler also watched the game with great interest.
It was Jesse Owens' turn to play, and he could reach the final if he jumped no less than half a meter from his best. The first time, he overtook the springboard foul; the second time he jumped from behind the springboard to be on the safe side, and jumped out of the bad result that he had never had before.
Taking advantage of Hitler's break, a German came running up and first encouraged Owens to relax, and then, with years of experience in the game, told him a little trick.
This time, Owens played well and made it to the final, once again meeting Luz Lang.
In the final, Owens finally defeated Luz Lang by a slight margin, winning the gold medal in the long jump event of that Olympic Games.
Jesse Owens won the championship
When Hitler saw this scene, his face turned blue, and the emotional crowd in the stands was momentarily silent. Luz Lang ran to the spot where Owens was standing, pulled him to the stand where 120,000 Germans had gathered, raised his hand and shouted, "Jesse Owens!" ”
After a period of nervous dullness, the audience also burst into enthusiastic cheers for Owens.
At that Olympics, Jesse Owens won the championship with 8.06 meters and Luz Lang finished second with 7.87 meters.
Many years later, when Owens recalled his friendship with Luz Long, he often said, "All my gold medals are melted together, and they are not worth as much as Luz Long's friendship with me!" ”
Owens lived in an era that was extremely unfriendly to black people. Even the U.S. government discriminated against blacks.
Although Owens represented team USA, he repeatedly reached new highs at that Olympics. But a year later, the cheers receded and Owens was as destitute as before.
In order to live, he had to do something of a performative nature in order to maintain survival. Despite holding multiple Olympic gold medals, no one wanted to give him a decent job.
But Owens never bowed his head to life.
He once said: I live in a time when an example is being set, which gives me a sense of responsibility for my fellow citizens, and black people need an example.
After a long war, Owens was back on the scene.
After the 1950s, Owens was active in the international sports arena as a messenger of the Olympic Movement many times and made outstanding contributions to the development of the Olympic Movement.
On March 31, 1980, Owens, 67, died of lung cancer.
Owens, once said, "When I returned to my homeland, apart from the stories of Hitler, I still had to get on the bus through the back door of the bus and wasn't allowed to sit in the front seat." Hitler refused to shake my hand, but the President of the White House refused to shake hands with me. ”
Although life never cared for him, he always sang about life. He never bowed his head to any difficulty.
In recognition of his contributions to sport, major European and American newspapers named him one of the best athletes of the 20th century.
In 1980, the American sports agency established the "Jesse Owens Award" to recognize and honor outstanding athletes who have made outstanding contributions to contemporary sports.