Olympics Success Stories
Olympians Who Overcame the Odds
The next time you face an overwhelming fitness setback, call to mind these athletes for inspiration
By
Mary Squillace
Image: Corbis Images
Jesse Owens (1936)
Track and Field, 100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100m, USA
The grandson of a slave, Jesse Owens ascended to stardom during a time when America was still stuck in deep-rooted segregation. (Search: Read more about Jesse Owens’s story) What’s more, he clinched four gold medals in Nazi Germany, soundly discrediting Hitler’s notion that Aryan people were a superior race. Owens became the first American in track and field history to win gold four times in a single Olympiad, a record that stood for nearly 50 years.
Video: Train Like a Track Star