10 things you may not have known about athlete Jesse Owens.

If you are a faithful follower of athletics, you probably already know the merits of the American athlete Jesse Owens. In addition to being considered the best athlete in the world in his time, he also won multiple titles that made the athlete a true milestone in athletics.

In 1935 he equaled the absolute mark during the Big Ten Conference , an NCAA competition in which 28 events from 28 different sports are played. As if that were not enough, he was also the winner of four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in the 100 and 200 meter dash, long jump and 4x100 m ² relay race.

Her accomplishments have led to the USA Track and Field Track and Field Athlete of the Year Award being named after her. Now that you know some of the athlete's most significant successes, do you want to know more about his professional and personal life? Read on to discover 10 curiosities about the athlete.

1. Where and when was Jesse Owens born?

The athlete was born on September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama (United States). He is the youngest of his nine siblings and due to the racist attacks the family endured in this town, they moved when Jesse was only 9 years old to the city of Cleveland, Ohio (United States). It was there that he studied at Fairmont High School and developed his sports skills.

2. Did you know that the athlete's real name is James Cleveland Owens?

Despite being known as Jesse Owens, the athlete's real name is James Cleveland Owens. It was in high school in Ohio that everyone started calling him Jesse ever since a teacher asked him what his name was and he, with his shy southern accent, answered: J. C, in honor of its initials. Since then, everyone knows him as Jesse Owens.

3. What did Jesse Owens do before he became a professional athlete?

Despite being clear that sport was his passion, the American had to look for other jobs during adolescence to earn some money. He was a merchandise distributor, a waiter for a shoe workshop and even collaborated in the trade of his father and brother, who worked in the field of metallurgy.

It was in high school that he began to opt for sprinting, and thanks to his coach Charles Riley , Owens began to delve into track and field. Years later, he confessed the gratitude he felt for Riley, who gave him the following advice: "don't look to the sides, do like the horses, they just run." In addition to working and studying, the young athlete trained before school hours to be able to combine all his chores without problems.

4. Have you heard about the hug that defied Hitler?

Two competitors faced each other in troubled times. One coming from a liberal state, against another competitor who represented a totalitarian state, but both with the same background, sport and desire to win. For a moment, racism, supremacies and politics were put aside. Jesse Owens and Lutz Long faced each other in the long jump, Lutz gave Owens some wise advice for the jump and thanks to this, Owens beat Lutz, a victory that they celebrated with a hug and from there a beautiful friendship arose. But the hug caused a stir in the German press, who described it as a "direct challenge to Hitler."

5. Where did Jesse Owens study?

The athlete studied at Ohio University thanks to the savings that his father had earned to be able to enroll him in that institution. Once he joined the university's track team, he became known as "La Bala", as he won eight titles in competitions organized by the NCAA, the association that carries out most of the sporting events in the universities of USA. Despite his undoubted talent as an athlete, the racism to which African-Americans were subjected prevented his successes from being fairly recognized. For this same reason, Owens never received a scholarship at the university for his achievements as an athlete, so he was forced to continue working to finance his studies.

6. How did this athlete mark a milestone in Nazi history?

In 1936, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin, an event that would exalt the sporting quality of the Germans, according to Hitler. It was here, when the inclusion of a young African-American athlete changed the course of the competition.

Without planning it, Owens demonstrated Hitler's supremacist theories by taking four gold medals and placing himself far above the German athletes. In this way, Hitler recognized on several occasions the rage that an African-American, with much broader muscles than the Germans, had shown talent and power in the Olympic Games played in his own country. Likewise, and without intending to, Owens became a figure against racism and the supremacy of the Aryan race.

7. What happened to Owens after he returned to the United States after the Berlin Olympics?

Owens, who believed that his achievements in the Olympic Games would dispel the racism he was used to, came to the United States and lived again the same reality as before winning four gold medals. Both the president and the country's authorities denied any type of recognition of the athlete, and even took away his position as an athlete in the Amateur Athletic Union. This was the end of Owens' career as an athlete.

8. Did you know that Owens was vice president and owner of a baseball team?

After the opposition that the American authorities exerted on the American when he arrived at the Olympic Games, Owens put an end to his career as an athlete and began to focus his future projects on other sports fields. It was at this moment that he participated in the creation of the African-American Baseball League and became vice president and owner of the Portland Rosebuds team. Despite the efforts of Owens and his colleagues, the project only lasted two months and then faded.

9. What was your hobby after you retired?

After his contribution to the African-American Baseball League, Owens was appointed a goodwill ambassador by the government and became fond of horse racing, an animal with which he had dueled after the Berlin Olympics in a peculiar race in Havana, Cuba, where the horse ran 140 yards while Owens ran 100. When he retired, the American spent his time training racehorses for competitions in various countries.

10. Want to know what happened to the room Owens stayed in at the Olympics?

After Owens died at the age of 66 from lung cancer, the Olympic committee decided to turn the room where the athlete had stayed during the Berlin Olympic Games into a museum where all the most recent photos were exhibited. representative of Owens' achievements. In addition, in this room there is a letter that a follower gave the athlete advising him not to shake hands with Hitler.

Having looked back on the achievements and failures of athlete Jesse Owens, we can confidently say that his successes were the result of the athlete's perseverance, hard work and dedication, and despite not having been recognized that he deserved due to the political situation that existed at that time, today he is a great legend of athletics.