Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
Personal information
Full name	James Cleveland Owens
Born	September 12, 1913 Oakville, Alabama, U.S.
Died	March 31, 1980(1980-03-31) (aged 66) Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Alma mater	Ohio State University
Height	5 ft 10 3⁄4 in (180 cm)
Weight	165 lb (75 kg)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Sprint, Long jump
Medal record Men's track and field Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1936 Berlin 100 m 1936 Berlin 200 m 1936 Berlin 4×100 m relay 1936 Berlin Long jump

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1936 games.

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". His achievement of setting three world records and tying another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport" and has never been equalled. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens won international fame with four gold medals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4 × 100 meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the games and, as a black man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy", although he "wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either."

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track and 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 twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport.