The Second World War saw a brief hiatus in the the first part of the 1940s, but since Chamonix there have been 22 Winter Olympic Games. South Korea's Pyeongchang hosts the 23rd edition, and while there have been close to 1,000 medals dished out, of the athletes that have received them, just 12 have been black.
During their medal ceremony in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".
A heavy smoker, Jesse Owens died of lung cancer on March 31, 1980, in Tucson, Arizona. He was 66. Four years after his death, a street in Berlin was renamed in his honour. In 1990 Owens was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
In front: weightlifter John Terry (left); long jumper John Brooks. Eighty years ago this month, the United States competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games in Nazi Germany, with 18 African-American athletes part of the U.S. squad. Track star Jesse Owens, one of the greatest Olympians of all time, won four gold medals.
Jesse Owens wears Adidas founder Adolf 'Adi' Dassler's custom-fitted spiked shoes at the 1936 olympics in Berlin.
The first written records of the ancient Olympic Games date to 776 B.C., when a cook named Coroebus won the only event–a 192-meter footrace called the stade (the origin of the modern “stadium”)–to become the first Olympic champion.
More than 75 years after he raced at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens is still seen as a national hero, having become the first person ever to win four gold medals at one time in Olympic track history. With his victories at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games, his fame was quickly established.
Many countries are very
good at this or that
Olympic sport. Russia has a reputation for weightlifting. The United States, swimming. South Korea is impeccable in archery.
Highest percentage of gold medals.
| Country | Sport | Gold medals |
|---|
| China | Table Tennis | 85.7% |
| USA | Basketball | 78.6 |
| USA | Softball | 75.0 |
| China | Diving | 72.7 |
Host City TriviaThe Winter Games has been held in the USA four times (the most of any country): 1932, 1960, 1980 and 2002. The US has also hosted the Summer Games four times (1904, 1932, 1984 and 1996). France has hosted the Winter Games three times (1924, 1968 and 1992), and the summer games twice (1900 and 1924).
Figure Skating: Tenley Albright (1956)She won two world titles in 1953 and 1955 and, despite injuring her ankle two weeks before the Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Olympic Winter Games, went on to win gold.
The first African American to win an Olympic Gold Medal, John Baxter Taylor was born November 3, 1882, in Washington, D.C. He attended Central High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he ran track and was the only African American on the team.
1888. The first bank organized and operated by African Americans was Capital Savings Bank in Washington, D.C. Just four years after it opened, its deposits had grown to over $300,000.
Don Barksdale
| Men's basketball |
|---|
| Representing United States |
|---|
| 1948 London | Team competition |
| Pan American Games |
| 1951 Buenos Aires | Team competition |
