Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.
Owens at the 1936 Summer Olympics, where he won four Olympic gold medals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | James Cleveland Owens | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 12, 1913 Oakville, Alabama, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | March 31, 1980 (aged 66) Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Oak Woods Cemetery Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Ohio State University, Fairmont Junior High School, East Technical High School | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 165 lb (75 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
M. Ruth Solomon (m. 1935) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Sprint, Long jump | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 60 yd: 6.1 100 yd: 9.4 100 m: 10.2 200 m: 20.7 220 yd: 20.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history". He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport".
He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy".
The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport. In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century.