【美国人物志】杰西·欧文斯 (3/9)

英语自学网

杰西·欧文斯，原名詹姆斯·克利夫兰·欧文斯(James Cleveland Owens)是美国黑人田径明星，短跑运动员。1913年9月12日生于美国南方阿拉巴马州一个棉农之家，黑奴后裔家庭，1980年3月31日卒于亚利桑那州。现代奥运史上最伟大的运动员，被誉为“本世纪最佳田径运动员。”。
Hints:
Hitler
Jesse Owens
Berlin
powerfully-built
Gold Medal

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We do not know what Hitler thought of Jesse Owens. No one recorded what he said about this black man who ran faster and jumped farther than any man of any color at the Olympic Games. But we can still see Jesse Owens as Hitler saw him. For at Hitler's request, motion pictures were made of the Berlin Olympic Games.
The films show Jesse Owens as a thin, but powerfully-built young man with smooth brown skin and short hair. When he ran, he seemed to move without effort. When he jumped, as one observer said, he seemed to jump clear out of Germany.
Jesse Owens won the highest award, the Gold Medal, in all four of the Olympic competitions he entered. In the 100 meter run, he equaled the fastest time ever run in that Olympic event. In the long jump and the 200 meter run, he set new Olympic records. And as part of a four-man team, he helped set a new world record for the 400 meter relay race. He was the first American in the history of Olympic track and field events to win four Gold Medals in a single Olympics.