Jesse Owens triumphs at Nazi Games
Broadcast Date: July 26, 1976
Jesse Owens was the undisputed star of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, and not just because he walked away with four gold medals. As a talented black athlete, Owens decisively disproved German chancellor Adolf Hitler's belief in the supremacy of the Aryan race. Years later, there's something else Owens would like to disprove: the popular myth that Hitler refused to shake his hand at the medal ceremony. In this CBC Radio interview 40 years later, Owens sets the record straight by pointing out that no head of state ever gives out medals.Jesse Owens triumphs at Nazi Games
• The German team won more medals than any other country at the 1936 Games. The United States placed second in the medal count, followed by Hungary.
• Immediately following the 1936 Games, Owens was expelled from the United States Amateur Athletic Union, making him ineligible for any subsequent Olympics. He had refused to participate in every European meet during a post-Olympic tour by the U.S. team.
• "This suspension is very unfair to me," Owens told the Associated Press. "All we athletes get out of this Olympics business is a view out of a train or airplane window. It gets very tiresome. The A.A.U. doesn't appreciate it. We've had no rest … this track business is becoming one of the greatest rackets in the world."
Jesse Owens triumphs at Nazi Games
Medium: Radio
Program: Olympic Magazine
Broadcast Date: July 26, 1976
Guest(s): Jesse Owens
Host: Harry Brown
Duration: 8:43
Photo: Jesse Owens photo from United States National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.
Last updated:
July 9, 2009
Jesse Owens triumphs at Nazi Games.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 9, 2009.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]