Topic > Jesse Owens: One of the Fastest Olympic Runners

Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913. He grew up in Oakville, Alabama with his two parents Henry Owens and Emma Owens. He was sick as a child and his parents couldn't afford a doctor when Jesse got pneumonia. Plus, people were already taking too much money out of their payments. So after a couple of weeks, his parents decided to move and they had enough money for a train ride and enough to buy an apartment and pay for it for a couple of days. After he and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, he went to school and took the same name Jesse because the teacher didn't understand his accent. Since Jesse was so fast, Coach Riley asked him to join his track team. After a couple of years his reputation was worldwide. On May 25, 1935, Jesse passed the 100-year milestone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Because Jesse was so successful, he married a woman named Ruth during his college years. Ruth already had one son, but soon after she had two more and this led to both Jesse and Ruth having three children. After a while, as he got older, he returned to America with his wife after retiring from his old track days. But even though Jesse had been gone for quite some time, there was still some racism. In the 1920s New York increasingly became a home for Jesse and the rest of the blacks. Since Jesse was so famous, Robinson a rather famous person invited Jesse to work with him, he wanted Jesse to be in some of his shows. Thanks to this combination, Harlem had become the largest neighborhood in America and for this reason it was nicknamed the "Harlem Renaissance". His family then returned to Cleveland, Ohio to celebrate the success in his life. About three days later he was venerated in the state capital Colombo. The governor gave a speech and presented Mrs. Ruth with a set of beautiful fancy cutlery. Then the U.S. Olympic team returned and Jesse rode with them. He sat down with Jack Dempsy, which a lot of black people don't like. Some people didn't like Jesse sitting with him. And also a lot of blacks were pretty mad at Jesse for not boycotting the games. When the parade reached Harlem people booed him. In the year 1936, after the celebrations, all Jesse faced more difficult challenges. While he was in Germany a group of people offered him jobs but when he returned they all vanished. Only a couple of months later he was finally offered a real but strange opportunity to make money. Jesse was paid to race in Cuba and of course Jesse won. There were some haters who said "An Olympic champion shouldn't race a horse." Years later Jesse responded with "But you can't eat four gold medals." He would say that in the sense of he needs money for food and for his degree. Three years after receiving a high medal he discovered he had lung cancer and died at sixty-six. In 1984 his granddaughter Gina was chosen to carry the torch at the Memorial Coliseum to begin the Los Angeles Olympics. Jesse won many medals throughout his adulthood. Jesse made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, 75 years ago, when he destroyed the Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy. He took home four gold medals and oak saplings. The whereabouts of those trees were a mystery. He was awarded the Presidential Medal. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, Jesse has been a hardworking man all his life. Even though he was going through those things he didn't give up, he kept working hard and finally he is.