What happened this week in 1935? Jesse Owens set a long jump world record.
| James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens was a well-known American track and field athlete who specialized in sprints and long jumps. As an undergraduate at Ohio State University, he known as “The Buckeye Bullet," setting three world records and tied a fourth at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On May 5, 1935, Owens, jumped 26’ 8½" setting a world record that held until 1951. Owen’s impressive performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics discredited Hitler’s master race theory. His record win of 4 gold medals stood for 48 years, confirming that individual excellence, not race or national origin, distinguishes one individual from another. | |
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