Blog: Ace

Olympic Greats - Jesse Owens 1936 Olympics - Berlin

Excellent quality footage of Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics hosted of course by Adolf Hitler. He refused to recognise the talents of this man and the fact that he had beaten the Germans. I'm not sure what is more shocking the treatment by Adolf Hitler or by American politicians who also gave no recognition to this great athlete.

There is an excellent book by Donald McRae called Black and White about Jesse Owens and Joe Louis and their struggle to achieve recognition amongst a prejudice American  audience. These great athletes were beleagured by drug, despair, debt and mental illness but still stand out today as outstanding individuals who changed the course of history by being the first black stars of world sport

by Ace on 08:08 on 16th July 2008