CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jesse Owens helped change the world when he became the first American to win four track and field gold medals in one Olympiad. He accomplished the feat in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, offering a rebuttal to Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan supremacy.
Owens "threw the lie of Aryan supremacy back in Hitler's face," said four-time track and field gold medalist Harrison Dillard.
Owens' four gold were in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, the long jump and the 4X100 meter relay.
"Race," a new feature film about Owens, opens Friday, Feb. 19, at local theaters.