The Greatest Athletic Achievement

In 1936, the 11th Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany.

It is said that the Berlin Olympic Stadium was the house that Hitler built, but over the course of one week in August of 1936, American Jesse Owens stole the show.

On a simple athletic level, Owens' performance in Berlin was impressive enough. He won four of the most important events at the games, equaling the world record in the 100 meters (despite a muddy track), setting an Olympic record in the long jump that would stand for 24 years, and posting world records in the 200 meters and in the 4x100 meter relay.

The feat is monumental considering Owens was competing in the capital of a nation in which he was legally considered something less than human, winning event after event with Adolf Hitler watching from his box.

Owens was also representing a nation in which he was a second-class citizen.

As the German papers were calling him and his fellow African-American Olympians "black auxiliaries," American newspaper reporters described them as "our Ethiopian troops" and their collective triumphs as "a darktown parade."

The New York Times called Owens "The Dark Streak from Ohio State." The novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote that he cheered for Owens even though Owens was "black as tar."

By dominating the Berlin Games, which had been designed as a showcase for Nazism, Owens struck a blow against the racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic government of Germany. With his brilliance on the track, handsome appearance and grace in victory, Owens seemed to embody the Greek athletic ideal the Germans had suggested was theirs.

In Berlin, Owens was in every way extraordinary.

Seventy-three years later, he remains the champion of champions.

By Jeremy Schapp of ESPN
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/columns/story?id=4396363