My Greatest Olympic Prize is a short story written by an American track and field athlete, Jesse Owens. The main themes of the story are friendship, sportsmanship, and prejudice. My Greatest Olympic Prize is a true story based on a real-life event.
My Greatest Olympic Prize By Jesse Owens
Summary of My Greatest Olympic Prize By Jesse Owens
The story shares the author’s experience of true friendship from the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Berlin Olympics 1936 was very special for Jesse Owens as he won four Olympic golds in it.
Jesse Owens’ “My Greatest Olympic Prize” story begins with the 1936 Berlin Olympics which was held in Germany. The Chancellor of Germany at that time was Adolf Hitler who was preparing his country’s performer for the Olympics. Adolf wanted to show the world that the Aryan race is better than any other race in the world. Our storyteller, Jesse Owens is an African American who faced racism all his life. Jesse resolved to prove Hitler’s theory wrong.
Also, he decided to win at least one gold medal in the upcoming Olympic competition. Jesse was so stubborn that he trained himself for 6 years continuously. He prepared himself in such a way that he set a world record in running 26 feet 8 1/4 inches in his university. Everyone had faith in Jesse Owens that he would definitely win the gold medal in the upcoming Olympics. When Jesse went to Germany, he met a German athlete named Luz Long. Luz Long had also trained himself hard and he was also jumping 26 feet in practice trials. Seeing Luz Long, Jesse was surprised how a German athlete could jump so high. After some time, Jesse came to know that Luz Long was close to Hitler and he had a lot of expectations from him.
Since Luz Long is close to Hitler, Jesse had a bad image of him in his mind. Jesse decided that he would not let Luz Long win the race, no matter what. Jesse was angry to defeat Luz Long, but in anger, Jesse made many mistakes in the first two jumps of the trial game.
He was not able to jump properly. After a few days, Jesse realized that he was making mistakes because he had anger for Luz Long. Jesse got frustrated and started kicking the ground in anger. Suddenly, Jesse felt a hand touch on his shoulder and when he turned back, he saw his opponent Luz Long.
Luz Long had qualified for the finals in his first attempt itself. He came to Jesse and asked him why he was so angry? Luz shook hands with Jesse, encouraged him and advised him to start running from a few inches behind so that he could jump correctly.
Jesse followed Luz’s advice and qualified for the finals. That night, Jesse meets Luz and thanks her for her advice. The two of them talk for a while about themselves and sportsmanship. They also talk about their beliefs and the way they see the world.
Jesse learns Luz doesn’t agree with Hitler’s theory, he doesn’t believe that Aryans are the best athletes. Luz and Jesse realize that they have very similar ideas, so they become good friends. Luz wanted Jesse to do his best, and wanted him to outperform the other performers.
The next day, when the sports competition begins, Luz breaks her old record. Jesse gets inspiration from Luz to do even better. After the final jump, Luz was the first person to congratulate Jesse. Whenever Jesse won a gold medal, Luz was the first person to congratulate him. Luz was so courageous that she congratulated Jesse in front of Hitler.
Hitler did not like it when he saw a black man win a gold medal. But Luz never cared about Hitler’s thoughts and was always the first cheerleader for his best friend Jesse. Jesse won four gold medals in the Olympics. But Jesse says that the four gold medals are not his best victory, but the friendship with Luz Long was the best victory of his life. Luz’s friendship is the biggest Olympic prize for Jesse. At the end of the story, Jesse gave a note that Luz Long was the perfect example for true sportsman spirit. Luz Long was always there for his friend Jesse. And he never considered Jesse as his rival.
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