The video link originally included in the article isn't viewable, so I substituted this one instead:
-NW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQopJmQry4
The Hidden Truth About Jesse Owens’ Experience at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Russ Winter
Winter Watch
January 21, 2019
[snip]
Jesse Owens (1913-1980) triumphed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, winning gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter relays, as well as in the long jump.
As the story goes, after Owens won his first gold medal, an incensed Hitler stormed out of the Olympic Stadium so he wouldn’t have to congratulate Owens on his victory.
Owens’s biographer William J. Baker says that the fake-news newspapers — then just as now — made up the whole story. Hitler wasn’t even at the stadium that second day.
Historian David Clay Large says German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels “gave orders to the German press not to mention race at all during the Games.”
Owens wasn’t shunned by the German audience at the Berlin stadium either. Baker wrote that Owens so captured the imagination of the crowd that it gave him several ear-shattering ovations.
Although “the experts” warned Owens to expect racial incidents, he stated that his reception in Berlin was greater than any other he had ever experienced. There were German cheers of “Yesseh Oh-vens!” or just “Oh-vens!” from the crowd.
Owens was a true celebrity in Berlin, mobbed by autograph seekers and fans on the streets. His Olympic suite and quarters were in the same place where white athletes stayed, which was a privilege that had been denied during that time in his own country (Altman 2015).
Despite his stardom, Owens received no scholarship money from Ohio State University. ?He had to work as an elevator operator, waiter and gas station attendant to support himself and his wife. After OSU, Owens worked as a playground janitor.
Unlike other U.S. athletes returning home with medals from the ’36 Olympics, Franklin D. Roosevelt didn’t invite Owens to the White House, and Owens never received a letter of congratulations from the president. There were no offers to Owens from Hollywood, no endorsement contracts and no ad deals. His face didn’t appear on cereal boxes. He made a modest living from his own sports promotions, including racing against a thoroughbred horse.
A Comradeship Connection with Luz Long
Carl Ludwig “Luz” Long was a German Olympic long-jumper who helped Owens to qualify for the long jump. In the qualifying rounds of the long jump, Owens had fouled his first two jumps. With one jump remaining, Long — a tall, blue-eyed, blond and a talented, model athlete in the Nazi era — introduced himself to Owens (Höfle 2015; Schwartz 2005). The two chatted awhile.
“You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed,” Long told Owens (Murray 2012).
Long said he had been watching Owens’ two jumps and made a mark at ground, a few centimeters before the take-off board (Broughton 2009; JOM, n.d.).
According to Owens, the top German jumper then advised him to calculate his last jump one foot before the takeoff board in order to jump from a safe place. Long knew that the American would easily reach 7.15 meters, and so he would avoid another null trial and disqualification (Altman 2015; Martinez 2012; Murray 2012).
Accepting Long`s advice, in his last jump, Owens marked 7.64 meters and qualified for the finals (Schwartz 2005; Sports Reference n.d.).
In reality, the long-jump competition between Long and Owens couldn’t have been more intense. Long equaled Owens best jump on his fifth leap at 7.87 meters. Owens, in his final jump, pulled a extraordinary leap of 8.06 meters. This world record stood for 25 years.
Long, who won the silver medal, congratulated gold medalist Ownns in the sandbox with a hug (SML 2013) and the two took a victory lap together, arm in arm, before the officials of the Nazi regime (IOC 2011) while the crowd stood up in ovation (Altman 2015).
Long gave his own version of the event in a story entitled “Mein Kampf mit Owens” [“My Battle with Owens”] published on Aug. 11, 1936, in the Neue Leipziger Zeitung, his hometown newspaper in Leipzig, Germany.
Long wrote:
“I couldn’t help myself. I ran up to him, and I was the first to embrace and congratulate him. He responded by saying: You forced me to give my best!”
Owens’ take:
“You can melt all the medals and cups I have, and that would not be worth anything compared to 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment” (IOC 2011; Martinez 2012).
The camaraderie and sportsmanship behaviors shown between Long and Owens throughout the competition wasn’t the least bit problematic to Adolf Hitler. According to the Aug. 10, 1936, edition of The New York Times:
“So delighted was Chancellor Hitler by the gallant fight that Long had made that he congratulated him privately just before he himself left the stadium.”
Long and Owens corresponded up until Long’s death in combat in North Africa in 1943.
