Jesse Owens

Continuing my postings on Olympic athletes, I give you this from the Wiki entry on Jesse:

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (1913-1980) was an American track and field athlete. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team.

Jesse's story is an amazing and interesting one of a person who rose from ghetto life to achieve wild acclaim and fame in sports. The story after the Olympic games is a bit of a sad one with Jesse being prosecuted for tax evasion and dyng at at 66 from lung cancer. Here are a few things that Jesse said:

Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.

A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.

Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need.

Although I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.

Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it.

For a time, at least, I was the most famous person in the entire world.