Olympics: Jesse Owens and Luz Long and a message of hope - BBC Sport

Jesse Owens and Luz Long's embrace has become a defining image of Olympic sportsmanship, but it came with consequences.

A friendship in the face of fascism

Image source, GettyCraig NelsonBBC Sport It was an instinctive sporting gesture that has gone down in Olympic folklore, but, for German long-jump champion Luz Long, it would have dark consequences.

As Jesse Owens soared over the eight-metre mark to secure gold at the 1936 Games, Long - his biggest rival - leapt into the sandpit in Berlin to hug and congratulate him.

Later, in a striking contradiction to Nazi Germany's twisted notion of Aryan supremacy and decades before the civil rights movement would spark radical change in the United States, the pair shared a lap of honour together, black and white athlete jogging arm in arm.

Not everyone was applauding. High in the stands, German leader Adolf Hitler watched on disapprovingly.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/articles/cd1xlr5ewrro

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