Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at 1936 Berlin Olympics

Jesse Owens, the African American sprinter and long jumper, became the most successful athlete at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Despite a movement in the United States to boycott the games due to the Nazi regime, Owens competed and won four gold medals.

Owens' achievements were particularly significant given the Nazi ideology of the time, which sought to demonstrate white supremacy. In his 1978 autobiography, ‘Jesse: The Man Who Outran Hitler’, Owens reflected on his journey to Germany to compete against the regime. Prior to the Olympics, Owens had already established himself as a world-class athlete, setting six world records in a single 45-minute period at the Big Ten Conference meet in 1935.