{"id":"jesse-owens","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jesse-owens","language":"en","name":"Jesse Owens","name_en":"Jesse Owens","name_ne":null,"description":"American track and field athlete (1913–1980)","headline":"American track and field athlete (1913–1980)","also_known_as":[],"summary":"James Cleveland \"Jesse\" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete. He made history at the 1936 Olympic Games by winning four gold medals, setting individual Olympic records in each event, plus another as a member of the 400-meter relay. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes in track and field history.","summary_more":["Owens excelled in short sprints and the long jump and was lauded in his lifetime as \"perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history\". Earlier he won four events, set five world records, and tied another—all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and was called \"the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport\". He won four NCAA titles in both 1935 and 1936, bringing his total to eight—an unparalleled achievement still unmatched.","He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited by ESPN with \"single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy\".","The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. In a 1950 Associated Press poll, Owens was voted the greatest track and field athlete for the first half of the century. In 1999, he made the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century. That same year, ESPN ranked him sixth-greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport."],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"12 September 1913","date":"1913-09-12"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Oakville","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3116386"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P19"}},{"key":"died","label":"Died","values":[{"text":"31 March 1980","date":"1980-03-31"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P570"}},{"key":"deathplace","label":"Place of death","values":[{"text":"Tucson","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18575"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P20"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"United States","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"sprinter","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4009406"},{"text":"athletics competitor","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11513337"},{"text":"long jumper","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13381428"},{"text":"entrepreneur","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q131524"},{"text":"athlete","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2066131"},{"text":"Olympic champion","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4333889"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P106"}},{"key":"party","label":"Political party","values":[{"text":"Republican Party","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29468"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P102"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"Ohio State University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q309331"},{"text":"East Technical High School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5329490"},{"text":"North Platte High School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7056353"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P69"}},{"key":"spouse","label":"Spouse","values":[{"text":"M. Ruth Solomon","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q108761200"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P26"}},{"key":"website","label":"Official website","values":[{"text":"jesseowens.com","url":"http://www.jesseowens.com/"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P856"}},{"key":"awards","label":"Awards","values":[{"text":"Presidential Medal of Freedom","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17144","date":"1976"},{"text":"Congressional Gold Medal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q721743"},{"text":"Theodore Roosevelt Award","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7781991","date":"1974"},{"text":"Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10905334"},{"text":"Associated Press Athlete of the Year","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q743122","date":"1936"},{"text":"IAAF Hall of Fame","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1572509","date":"2012-03-08"},{"text":"Silver Olympic Order","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15279723","date":"1976"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651#P166"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651","http://www.jesseowens.com/"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Jesse Owens born?","a":"Jesse Owens was born on 12 September 1913 in Oakville."},{"q":"Where did Jesse Owens study?","a":"Jesse Owens was educated at Ohio State University, East Technical High School, North Platte High School."}],"related":[{"name":"Muhammad Ali","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/muhammad-ali"},{"name":"Michael Jordan","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/michael-jordan"},{"name":"Simone Biles","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/simone-biles"},{"name":"Pelé","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/pele"},{"name":"Usain Bolt","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/usain-bolt"},{"name":"Roger Federer","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/roger-federer"},{"name":"Sachin Tendulkar","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/sachin-tendulkar"},{"name":"Lionel Messi","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/lionel-messi"},{"name":"Nadia Comăneci","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/nadia-com-neci"},{"name":"Eliud Kipchoge","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/eliud-kipchoge"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/jesse-owens-ad7a375a1e.jpg","width":500,"height":688,"license":"Public domain","credit":"Acme News Photos","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesse_Owens_1936.jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Jesse Owens","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q52651","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52651","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Jesse Owens 1936.jpg by Acme News Photos (Public domain)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesse_Owens_1936.jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Jesse Owens, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Jesse Owens 1936.jpg — Acme News Photos, Public domain.","cite":"\"Jesse Owens\". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/jesse-owens. Retrieved 5 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-31T13:59:50Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-05","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/jesse-owens","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/jesse-owens","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/jesse-owens?lang=ne"}}