Jesse Owens is as good as gold in the historic split-second dramatically captured in “Jesse Owens Breaks the 100 Metre Record.” The grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper, Owens (1913 – 1980) grew up in a Cleveland ghetto. Athletically gifted, he first drew national attention when he equaled the 100-yard dash world record at a high-school competition. Triumphing at a Big Ten college track meet, Owens broke three world records and tied a fourth. He courageously entered the 1938 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany, where he set three records and became the first American to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

© Art.com