Friday , November 15 2024

20 Rare Historical Facts About Olympic Games That You Never Knew

9. During 1936 Berlin Olympic games, the Nazis ridiculed the US for relying on “non-human black auxiliaries.” American black athlete Jesse Owens went on to win 4 gold medals and beat a German at Long Jump in front of Hitler. Four years after Owens’ death, a street in Berlin was renamed after him.

Jesse Owens was a four-time gold medalist and competed in sprinting and long jumps. Despite his many wins, he received much discrimination in his own country, the United States. Even the then President F. D. Roosevelt didn’t send him a message to congratulate him. He was noted for destroying Hitler’s theory on Aryan supremacy over everyone else.

10. The United States of America is the only country that doesn’t dip its flag during the Olympic opening ceremonies.

During the opening ceremonies, the teams from each participating country briefly dips their flag as a sign of respect to the host nation, something that the U. S. refuses to do. Though, the actual reason is unclear, there is a story when it started in 1908 London Summer Olympics, when an Irish American player refused to lower the flag to King Edward VII in protest. However, after that, the flag was dipped by a few countries and not by others. By 1936, they made a decision not to dip it because the head of state was Hitler. By the end of the Second World War, it became a tradition for the U. S. teams not to dip the flag.




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