Jesse Owens Captures Olympic Title

When I think about the Olympics, I think of the world uniting to compete in friendly competitions, the one time that the world stops fighting with each other to come together to have athletic contests. Sadly, the Olympics always seem to start controversy whether it is good or bad press towards a country. In the article I just read by Arthur J. Daley was written in 1936, a day after Jesse Owens had just acclaimed the title of "worlds fastest human". The 1936 Olympics were being held in Germany and while Hitler had attended the Olympics, his view toward them did not seem to be the same as many other citizens around the world. Daley had addressed the Olympic scores for that day, and along with the scores had brought up an issue of Hitler refusing to shake the two African-American track stars hands, Owens and Metcalfe. The article addresses this issue in a more calming manner than I would have expected. The take that Daley has given the issue was a bit more sarcastic, saying "If Hitler is going to avoid the Afro-Americans, he is going to have his work cut out for him." In order for Daley to still continue the positive approach and light attitude towards the Olympics it was probably important for him to not dwell on such a shameful act. However, the article finishes saying Jesse Owens title was reclaimed, saying the Germans had found a way to deny the African-American of his world record. The Germans have said that Owens mark was disallowed because of a wind, Daley said, "From the stands the breeze looked like a crosswind, but one can never tell about those things." To me, it sounded as if Daley had agreed with the Germans, or simply trying to make sense of what they had done. I would have expected a different reaction from the media, I know today it would have been very different, giving the Germans bad press for what they have done. While reading this article, I immediately thought of the issue in Dubai regarding the UAE, United Arab Emirates. The UAE has denied access to the Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer who is ranked 48th in the world for female tennis players, Peer has said "Politics should be kept separate from sports" which I agree entirely. It is hurtful to see athletes denied access to compete or to a record they clearly won because of their race or where they are from.