My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary

In this article, you will be reading My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary. It is taken from the
autobiography of Jesse Owens’, a well-known writer. In the story, he narrated his experience of true
friendship in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. The writer met a German rival who became his good friend
because of the broad-mindedness of the latter. The story speaks of true friendship and true
sportsmanship. The writer won four gold medals. However, he admitted that life long friendship was
his greatest Olympic prize.

My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary in English

The article explains My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary. It has a character named Adolf Hitler. He
was the Chancellor of Germany and was preparing for the event with his performers. He intended to
win the greatest number of medals in the events to show the superiority of the Aryan race.
However, an American Negro named Jesse Owens was determined to prove the theory of Hitler to
be wrong. Setting this goal in the mind, he trained himself regressively for six years. Also, he
disciplined himself for succeeding in life.

Furthermore, a year before the huge event, he set a world record of 26 feet 8-1/4 inches in running
board jump organized at his university. Thus, he was expected to win the Olympic very easily.
However, a furious athlete always commit mistakes. Hence, Jesse fouled in the first two trial leaps.
The reason being his taking off from several inches beyond the line. Then he thought bitterly as if he
had come 3000 miles to get fouled and make a fool of himself.

The writer was very frustrated and kicked the ground in disgust. All of a sudden, there was a friendly
hand on his shoulder. The man was no other than his German rival. His name was Luz Long. He had
qualified for the finals in his first attempt. A man with blue eyes met him friendly. He offered a firm
handshake to Jesse. Then he encouraged Jesse not to lose hope and advised him to leap from a few
inches back of the board. His advice helped Jesse in qualifying for the finals.

At the night, Jesse met Luz to thank him for his suggestion. Moreover, they entered into a
conversation about each other, sports events and the situation of the world. Jesse felt good to hear
that his friend does not have a mentality of being superior or to prove the superiority of Aryan race.
They became nice friends. Liz long was broad-minded. He wanted Jesse to do his best even if that
meant his winning in the event.

The next day, Luz broke his record which was an inspiration for Jesse to perform the best.
Furthermore, Luz was the first to congratulate him when he landed from his performance. Liz
offered him a firm handshake even after knowing that Hitler was noticing the two. Thus, Liz
displayed true sportsmanship by his action. Jesse won four gold medals in the event. However, the
true friendship with Luz worth him more than the medals. He calls it as his Greatest Olympic Prize.
Their friendship ended only after the death of Luz in the Second World War.
Jesse adds to his note that Luz was a true example of sportsman spirit. For him taking part and
performing at one’s best is more important than winning or losing.

Conclusion of My Greatest Olympic Prize

The story gives a powerful message about how to be a true friend and a true sportsman. Also, it
gives a lesson that we should be broadminded and give away the feelings of hatred or prejudices.

Introduction :The lesson "My Greatest Olympic Prize" is the heart-touchingexperience of Olympic
gold medalist Jesse Owens. Adolf Hitlerbelieved in Aryan Superiority theory. He thought that
hisGerman athlets belong to a master's race and they wouldperform better than other participants
in the 1936 Olympics,Berlin. So nationalistic feelings were running high. TheAmerican Negro athlete
Jesse Owens took 6 years of painfulpractice, purposely to break the theory of Hitler. He hadalready
made a world record in long jump just in the last year.So he expected to win the gold medal easily
this time