Jesse Owens – A David Who Defeated the Goliath

This short real life story is about James Cleveland Owens, an American athlete who single-handedly won the heart of not just millions of Americans, but also scored a victory for entire humanity by reducing a powerful dictator’s pride! Surely, this can be termed a modern “David and Goliath” story. This “David” was none other than Jesse Owens, who in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin sowed the first seed of the eventual downfall of the “Goliath” German dictator, Adolf Hitler.

Jesse Owens won four Olympic gold medals then, and won everyone’s confidence, including those of the Germans. But even as he did so, the German chancellor refused to shake his hands, because Hitler thought more of his own Aryan race than that of Jesse’s. Nonetheless, Germany adored this all-time-great athlete who, incidentally, was an African-American. One such German, Carl Ludwig (“Luz”) Long, who was a competitor, who helped Jesse win the long jump with a great suggestion. Carl Ludwig Long incidentally was beaten in that long jump event, but nonetheless, these two great athletes became the best friends since then.

Jesse, the son of a sharecropper, was born on September 12, 1913 at Oakville, Alabama. In his childhood, he was considered too frail to help his family in the fields. The family, in 1921, moved to Cleveland, Ohio where young James entered a public school. His teacher accidentally Christened him “Jesse” Owens instead of J. C. Owens, a name that was loved by millions, became world famous, and associated proudly with the prefix “Legend” in just few years. That legendary name surely broke the pride of an infamous dictator who nearly destroyed world peace.

In 1933, as a student in Cleveland, Ohio, he won three athletics events at the National Interscholastic Championships in Chicago. His subsequent world records at the University of Michigan in 1935, in a Western Conference track-and-field competition, where Jesse Owens equaled the world record winning the 100-yard dash (in 9.4 sec). He then immediately went ahead to break the world records for the 220-yard dash, the 220-yard low hurdles), and the long jump at the same meet!

Jesse Owens’ 1936 Berlin Olympics world record in the long jump (which was called the running broad jump then) stood unbeaten for 25 years after that! Incidentally, Jesse also won the 100-meter dash (an Olympics record then), the 200-meter run (an Olympics record), the long jump, and the 4×100-meter relay. A true Legend was born then! Jesse Owens almost held all sprint distances world records for a long time.

Jesse Owens was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the Living Legend Award, and the Congressional Gold Medal. Jesse died of cancer on March 31, 1980, but not before winning billions of hearts with his gentle mannerisms, his greatest sports achievements, and becoming a true champion who achieved great honor and pride for his people. His superhuman feats were an inspiration for many other track champions, Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis among them, who carried Jesse’s achievement to greater lengths and heights!