Originally Posted by Eric5273

Interestingly enough, while Jesse Owens' gold metals was played out in the press as a political victory for America over the Nazis, Owens himself claimed the Germans were very courteous and that he was treated better in Germany than he was back home in the US. Apparently he was able to stay in "white" hotels, where as back home he had to stay in "black only" hotels when he travelled to compete. Here are a couple of things he said at the time:

"When I passed the Chancellor [Hitler] he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany."

"Hitler didn't snub me—it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."

Apparently he was not invited to the White House along with all the other (white) gold metal winners, and when he was honored by the Olympic Committee at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in NYC, he had to come in the back entrance and take the freight elevator as blacks were typically not allowed in that hotel.

So while the press was chalking this one up as a win for the land of freedom over the land of racism and hatred, the reality was a bit different.

Furthermore, Owens was very good friends with German track & field star Lutz Long, and in the example given above, Joe Louis was life-long friends with Max Schmelling. It's too bad the press made these rivalries into political contests.

The Olympics (and sports in general) is not the place to protest politics. The purpose of the Olympics is for everyone to forget about politics and be friendly with eachother for a short period of time.