What African-American athlete defied Hitler's theories of racial superiority by winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics?
Summer Olympic Games Great Depression, which contributed to the low number of competitors (the fewest since the St. Louis games). The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, "Olympia", was widely considered to be a masterpiece, despite Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by "non-Aryan" athletes. In particular, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the reintroduction of the Torch Relay. Due to World War
1500 metres at the Olympics win) and, soon after, Sebastian Coe became the first man to do so in 1984. No athlete of either sex has won more than two medals. Historically, athletes in this event have also had success in the 800 metres at the Olympics. Kelly Holmes was the last athlete to win both events at the same Olympics in 2004. 2012 1500m gold medalist Taoufik Makhloufi made both podiums without winning gold in 2016. Great Britain is the most successful nation in the event, having won six gold medals and a total of fourteen. Kenya has the next highest number of gold