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Sporting Witness: Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics

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Jesse Owens

15/08/2015 GMT

Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics

The American athlete won four gold medals at the 1936 games hosted by Nazi Germany

The American sprinter made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted in Nazi Germany. He won four gold medals making a mockery of the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy.

The black American sprinter made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted in Nazi Germany where he won four gold medals. By winning  gold for the 100m - in a time of 10.3 seconds, and for the long jump, the 200m and the 4x100m relay he made a mockery of the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy. Using the BBC Archive, we look back at his remarkable career.

With contributions from his wife Ruth Owens, team mate Marty Glickman and Yogi Mayer, a German decathlete who had been excluded from the competition for being Jewish, but had managed to get tickets to see Jesse Owens. 

Presented by Alex Last. 

This programme first broadcast in August 2015. 

Picture: The sprinter and athlete, Jesse Owens. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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