What was so special about Jesse Owens competing in the 1936 Olympics?

Answer 1

At the time of the Berlin Olympics, Hitler and the Nazi's were rapidly gaining a lot of support and followers. Germany's super star at the Olympics at the time was a man called Lutz Lang and Hitler thought that he could use him to prove to the German the meaning of the 'pure Aryan race' as Lang had blue eyes and perfect blond hair, with no impurities. To Gobbles, Hitler's propagandist, this seemed like a perfect scenario.

However, throughout the Olympic games, an African American athlete called Jesse Owens had won a series of events along with the other members in his team and he was branded as 'racially inferior' by the Nazi's and Hitler because of his race and ethnicity.

As Hitler was chancellor at the time, he had the job of awarding the medals and when Jesse Owens had won a gold medal, Hitler refused to put it around his neck due to his skin colour.