Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens (1913–1980), born James Cleveland Owens, was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The son of a sharecropper in Alabama, he moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where a teacher misheard his initials, J.C., as "Jesse," and where his junior high coach, Charles Riley, trained him before school. His turning point came at a single college meet in 1935, when, competing for Ohio State University, he set three world records and tied a fourth in less than an hour. In Berlin he won the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and 4x100-meter relay, and he formed a lasting friendship with his German long jump rival, Luz Long. In later years he worked with young people and spoke widely on sportsmanship. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 and, posthumously, the Congressional Gold Medal.
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Olympic Gold Medal Legends
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. A young Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, won Olympic boxing gold in Rome in 1960. Michael Jordan won gold in 1984 and again with the 1992 Dream Team. Serena Williams won four Olympic gold medals in tennis, and Usain Bolt won eight in sprinting from 2008 to 2016, carrying forward the legacy of Owens.
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