GERMANY: ATHLETICS: Familiy of famous Olympic athlete Jesse Owens meet opponent Long family at world championships

Record ID: 742008

  • Title: GERMANY: ATHLETICS: Familiy of famous Olympic athlete Jesse Owens meet opponent Long family at world championships
  • Date: 22nd August 2009
  • Summary: PHOTOGRAPH OF OWENS JUMPING
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: History,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA91458AIBC7OAKBBIUE6YFGU1H
  • Story Text: Families of U.S. athlete Jesse Owens and his friend, Germany's Luz Long, unite at the World Championships in Berlin more than 70 years after the American won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in the German capital.
    One of the most memorable moments in athletics history will be recalled at the Berlin world championships when the granddaughters of U.S. legend Jesse Owens and Germany's Luz Long present medals in the 1936 Olympics stadium.
    Black athlete Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany, beating Long in the long jump after the German had given him some friendly advice.
    Owens' granddaughter Marlene Dortch and Long's granddaughter Julia-Vanessa Long will present the medals for the men's long jump, which is scheduled for Saturday.
    The two families met on Friday (August 21) at the Berlin Sports Museum, beside the Olympic Stadium, to visit an exhibition about Owens' success, called 'Jesse Owens - A Sporting Legend'.
    Dortch said her grandfather would have been extremely pleased about her presenting the long jump medals.
    "He would be so happy so thrilled. So thrilled to see our families come together after so many years. He would just be proud that he would still be remembered today in Berlin and to be remembered so well," Dortch said.
    At the 1936 Games, Owens fouled his first two attempts in long jump qualifying and was facing elimination when the blond-haired Long sat with him, giving him advice on his run-up.
    After the talk, captured by photographers, Owens went on to win the event, with Long taking silver in front of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
    "I think it really showed the world that people, individuals are what matter. It doesn't matter what outside forces are, what they say and what they believe but that those two individuals stood up together arm in arm to show brotherhood of man. That said everything without words," Dortch told Reuters TV.
    It was originally planned for Long's son and Julia-Vanessa's father, Kai, to present the medals, but he told Reuters TV it was time to let the next generation play a role in the history.
    Long noted that his father was a celebrity in Germany, but then like lots of young men joined the armed forces and died during the Second World War.
    "My father was a very unpolitical man but he was part of the system. Due to his many successes and what he did abroad, he was a kind of celebrity. I would say he was as much of a celebrity as the likes of Boris Becker is today. That's how you have to look at it. However it was a very different level and that is how he became part of the system. We all know what happened afterwards, just beforehand we didn't know," Long said.
    Long explained why he thought the friendship between his father and Owens is remembered.
    "I think it had great significance for sport because it was so unpolitical. Jesse Owens and Luz Long in 1936 were not black muslims who stand in the stadium 20 years later with their fists in the air. They were two respectable amateurs, one of which just happened to be white and the other black, who 'fought' against each other fairly and the rest was the link to that period of time," said Long.
    Owens also won gold in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100 metres relay during the Berlin Games. He died in 1980.
    U.S athletes at the world championships are wearing his initials on their outfits.
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