Jesse Owens
American athlete
Also known as: James Cleveland Owens
Recent News
Aug. 6, 2024, 4:21 PM ET (AP)
Zero US men in the Olympic long jump final is a rare absence for the nation of Lewis and Owens
Top Questions
What is Jesse Owens known for?
What is Jesse Owens known for?
What was Jesse Owens’s life like before the Berlin Olympics?
What was Jesse Owens’s life like before the Berlin Olympics?
Was Jesse Owens snubbed by Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?
Was Jesse Owens snubbed by Hitler at the Berlin Olympics?
What was Jesse Owens’s life like after the Berlin Olympics?
What was Jesse Owens’s life like after the Berlin Olympics?
How did Jesse Owens die?
How did Jesse Owens die?
Jesse Owens (born September 12, 1913, Oakville, Alabama, U.S.—died March 31, 1980, Tucson, Arizona) was an American track-and-field athlete who became one of the sport’s most legendary competitors after winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. His victories were a blow to Adolf Hitler’s intention to use the Games to demonstrate Aryan superiority. Owens was the youngest of 10 children. The family initially lived in Alabama, where Owens’s father worked as a sharecropper. When the younger Owens was nine years old, the family moved to Cleveland. At his new school, a teacher misheard his name—he was ...(100 of 598 words)