The Real Story: “Race” and Jesse Owens

This week, “Race” tells the story of Olympian Jesse Owens. His achievement of setting three world records and tying another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan has been called the greatest 45 minutes ever in sports and has never been equaled. As the top athlete of the 1936 Olympics, he provided a powerful response to Hitler’s efforts to use the games to show Nazi superiority. The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track and Field’s highest accolade for the year’s best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport.

He said the secret to his success as a runner was “I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.”

Leni Riefenstahl, played by Carice van Houten, is still a controversial figure. She was an innovative and accomplished filmmaker who used her skill for Nazi propaganda.

Avery Brundage, played by Jeremy Irons, went on to become president of the International Olympic Committee.

Here is rare informal footage of Berchtesgarden and 1936 Berlin Olympics, including an interview with Jesse Owens and scenes with Hitler, Goebbels, von Ribbentrop and Albert Speer.