If im not mistaken it was a black american athelte that won certain medals which pissed Hitler off.
That's actually a myth.
http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth10.htm
German Myth 10
The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Hitler and Jesse Owens
[...]
Which brings us to another Olympic myth. It is often stated that Jesse Owens' four gold medals humiliated Hitler by proving to the world that Nazi claims of Aryan superiority were a lie. But Hitler and the Nazis were far from unhappy with the Olympic results. Not only did Germany win far more medals than any other country at the 1936 Olympics, but the Nazis had pulled off the huge public relations coup that Olympic opponents had predicted, casting Germany and the Nazis in a positive light.
Jesse Owens' reception by the German public and the spectators in the Olympic stadium was warm. There were German cheers of 'Yesseh Oh-vens' or just 'Oh-vens' from the crowd. Owens was a true celebrity in Berlin, mobbed by autograph seekers to the point that he complained about all the attention. He later claimed that his reception in Berlin was greater than any other he had ever experienced, and he was quite popular even before the Olympics.
Hitler did shun a black American athlete at the 1936 Games, but it wasn't Jesse Owens. On the first day of the Olympics, just before Cornelius Johnson, an African American althlete who won the first gold medal for the U.S. that day, was to receive his award, Hitler left the stadium early. Prior to his departure, Hitler had received a number of winners, but Olympic officials informed the German leader that in the future he must receive all of the winners or none at all. After the first day, he opted to acknowledge none. Jesse Owens had his victories on the second day, when Hitler was no longer in attendance.
One reason the Hitler snub myth is so hard to kill is that Owens himself, after initial attempts to set the record straight, started telling the story himself. He grew tired of trying to deny a tale that the American press had erroneously reported widely and that had taken on a life of its own. Would Hitler have snubbed Owens if he had been in the stadium on day two? Perhaps. But since he wasn't there, he didn't.
- By ingliz
- By Potemkin
- By Puffer Fish