Last summer, Justin Gatlin and Joanna Hayes thrilled us with their gold medal performances at the Olympics. Yesterday, these two American athletes were honored when the Olympic committee awarded them both the prestigious Jesse Owens award.
Gatlin, who is 22, won the gold for the men’s 100 meter run. He also won bronze in the 200-meter and a team silver for the 4x100-meter men’s relay. He was the only man to win three medals in track and field at the 2004 games. He competed in ten races total, including the qualifiers
Hayes, 27, won the women’s 100 meter hurdles in 12:37 seconds, breaking the previous record of 12:38, which had stood for 16 years. After the Olympics, she won the IAAF World Olympics Final in 12.58 seconds. In 2004, she had three of the six fastest finishes, four of which were 12:50 or faster.
About winning the award, Gatlin said, 'It is such a great honor to win the Jesse Owens Award.' Haye’s told reporters, 'To be the winner of the Jesse Owens award is an honor beyond words.'
The Jesse Owens Award was first given in 1981 as a means by which to honor the most noteworthy American male and female track and field athlete. Gatlin and Hayes will be given their awards in a ceremony on December 3.
They are in good company. Some of the country’s very best athletes have been similarly honored. Others who have received this award are Edwin Moses (1981), Carl Lewis (1982 and 1991), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1986 and 1987), Florence Griffith Joyner (1988), Michael Johnson (1994, 1995 1996), Marion Jones (1997, 1998, 2002), and Maurice Greene (1999).
Jesse Owens was born James Cleveland Owens in 1913 in Alabama. When he was eight, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He began running in grade school and became a track star as a student at Cleveland East Technical High School. It was there that he tied the standing world record for the 100 yard dash, which was 9.4 seconds.
After being heavily recruited, Owens attended Ohio State University. In May 1935, Owens ran the 100-yard dash, again tying the world record. Later, he made his first ever broad jump, equaling the world record. His second jump broke that record by nearly six inches.
In the same meet, Owens set the new world record in the 220-yard dash as well as breaking the world record in the 200-yard low hurdles. This success led him to try out for the 1936 Olympics, which were being held in Nazi Germany.
These Olympic games were being promoted by Adolf Hitler as the 'Aryan' games and it was his intention to prove to the world the superiority of white Germans. But Owens' performances completely overshadowed all the other athletes, winning the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the broad jump. He was also on the 400-meter relay team that won another gold medal. He became the first American to win four gold medals in one Olympics.
Jesse Owens died of lung cancer in Tuscon, Arizona on March 31, 1980
