4. Jesse Owens Makes A Statement
In 1936 the world was still reeling from the catastrophe of WWI, yet something else was brewing in the midst of an exhausted and battered Germany. Using the games as an act of propaganda, designed to spur the people into supporting the image of the strong and united Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler had the world where he wanted it. Camouflaging its racist ideologies and plans for world domination, Hitler’s aim was to lure audiences and athletes alike into a false sense of what Germany had become. With the media falling for his charms, the event was written up like a spectacle, gloriously praising the peaceful and tolerant Germany, yet for many the truth was obvious to see, with the USA and Great Britain even attempting a boycott. However, Hitler’s wish for total admiration failed, as it was a young African American man that instead stole the limelight from the seething future Führer. Participating in school athletics from a young age, James Cleveland Owens excelled in track and field. Going on to set a number of records, Owens was selected to represent the USA at the Berlin Olympics. With Hitler hoping for a German domination, Owens had other ideas, skillfully winning four gold medals in front of an angered Adolf Hitler. With reports that Hitler had suggested that all black men and women be excluded from future games due to their different physiques from those ‘of civilized whites’, it was later claimed that Hitler had even refused to shake the gold medalist’s hand. However these accusations are often disputed.
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