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Jesse Owens (born September 12, 1913, Oakville, Alabama, U.S.—died March 31, 1980, Tucson, Arizona) was an American track-and-field athlete who became one of the sport’s most legendary competitors after winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. His victories were a blow to Adolf Hitler’s intention to use the Games to demonstrate Aryan superiority. Owens was the youngest of 10 children. The family initially lived in Alabama, where Owens’s father worked as...