Americans Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, and Frank Wykoff on the deck of the S.S. Manhattan before sailing to Germany for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. On August 3, 1936, Jesse Owens won gold in the men’s 100 metres in 10.3 seconds, equaling the world record. Ralph Metcalfe took silver in 10.4, and the Netherlands’ Tinus Osendarp won bronze. Six days later, Owens, Metcalfe, Foy Draper, and Frank Wykoff won gold in the 4×100 metres relay, setting a world record.
Owens’s dominant performances in Berlin struck a blow against the Nazi regime’s effort to use the Games to showcase “Aryan” racial superiority. Adolf Hitler, who watched from his stadium box, did not publicly congratulate Owens and soon stopped greeting individual winners, a snub widely interpreted as a reaction to a Black American athlete triumphing on his stage. Beyond the geopolitical symbolism, the 1936 Games forged a lifelong bond between Owens and Metcalfe; fierce rivals on the track, they remained close friends and later used their platforms to advocate for civil rights and greater opportunities for Black athletes and communities.
